LAHORE: A contempt of court petition has been filed in the Lahore High Court against Punjab Home Secretary Azam Suleman Khan for not complying with a court order about releasing of the Model Town inquiry report.

Asif Iqbal and other legal heirs of victims of the Model Town incident filed the petition through lawyers Khwaja Tariq Rahim and Azhar Siddique.

The petitioners contended that a copy of the order issued by a single bench (Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi) was communicated and duly served to the home secretary, but he did not comply with the order.

They said the home secretary did not take any step to comply with the order, wherein he has been directed to make the inquiry report public and also hand over the same to the petitioners.

The petitioners stated an application was also submitted to the home secretary for the provision of the report in light of the court order but the respondent at the behest of the ruling PML-N was reluctant to implement the order.

They pleaded that the home secretary by not releasing the Model Town inquiry report committed contempt of the court and was liable to be punished under Contempt of Court Ordinance 2003 and Article 204 of the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2017