LAHORE: Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Dr Tahirul Qadri rules out any chances of protest on roads for seeking justice for the Model Town victims arguing that as case is being heard by the judiciary it should be given time to take the matter to logical end.

“We were on roads when we didn’t approach the courts. And it was our justified action. But, now the cases are being heard by the courts we won’t break the laid down [justice] system, and will give time to the judiciary to take the cases to their logical end,” he told a questioner during a media talk on the fifth anniversary of the killings here on Monday.

At least 14 PAT workers had been shot dead and dozens injured in a police raid on the party’s Model Town headquarters back on June 17, 2014.

Dr Qadri said they had provided call records and other important documents to the joint investigation team (JIT) which were not refuted by the ‘killers’.

“The same JIT had been suspended on request of a police officer, who was involved in the incident himself. This is self-explanatory that in this system the killers enjoy the rights but the hope for victims is nearly bleak.”

He said the second tier leadership of PAT was in contact with the government and was conveying the party’s reservations about obstacles in the delivery of justice to the heirs of Model Town victims.

He said martyrs of the Model Town incident were very close to him and he ensured their heirs that the innocent blood would not go in vain. “We want to hold the killers accountable and will not step back from our demand of Qisas at any cost.”

Speaking to participants in the anniversary, Dr Qadri said there had been a campaign for terrorising and intimidating the eyewitnesses after failing to win them over. But they stood tall against the pressure and have not let the case proceedings to be affected.

He said at least eight appeals on the incident were pending adjudication with the Supreme Court and Lahore High Court.

He lamented that despite the change in the government, the system remained the same which not only obstructs the process of delivering justice but also safeguards the interest of past rulers.

PAT General Secretary Khurram Nawaz Gandepur said their hopes that the PTI government would provide them justice did not realise yet.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2019