LAHORE: The Minhajul Quran, Pakistan Muslim League-Q and Sunni Tehreek submitted an application to police on Thursday to register an FIR against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, his son Hamza Shahbaz, and some ministers and police officials for the killing of people in a raid on the headquarters of Dr Tahirul Qadri in Model Town.

The legal team of the Pakistan People’s Party has also rendered help in drafting the application.

Led by PML-Q Senator Kamil Ali Agha, a delegation of the three parties visited the Faisal Town police station and submitted the application. Minhajul Quran administrator Jawad Hamid is the complainant. Sunni Tehreek chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza accompanied them.

“We waited for an hour for the station house officer to reach there to register the case, but he deliberately did not turn up. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has claimed that the law should be followed in every case, but in this particular case he will not let the FIR registered against himself, his family members and cronies,” Mr Agha told Dawn.

“Police have received the application and issued us a receipt – 657/5B/FB – and now it is up to them to register an FIR against the people we have nominated,” he said.

Federal ministers Pervaiz Rashid, Chaudhry Nisar, Khawaja Asif and Khawaja Saad Rafique, Minister of State Abid Sher Ali, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and police officials Shafiq Ahmed Gujjar, Rana Abdul Jabbar and Tariq Aziz are among the 21 people nominated in the FIR.

“We have followed the legal way to register the FIR. If police did not register the case, the government should be ready for consequences,” Mr Agha said.

Earlier, former federal law minister Dr Khalid Ranjha held a meeting with PPP Secretary General Latif Khosa and senior vice president of PPP Punjab, Advocate Haider Zaman Qureshi at the Minhajul Quran headquarters and discussed legal matters in finalising the FIR. “We have given our input in finalising the FIR draft,” Mr Qureshi told Dawn.

He said the PPP was fully supporting Dr Tahirul Qadri and his supporters in getting justice in the Lahore tragedy. He said the PML-N had destroyed the unity among political parties by launching an uncalled for offensive against Dr Qadri’s supporters. “The PPP warns the PML-N government against going for another adventure to take on Dr Qadri on his arrival on June 23,” he said. Latif Khosa criticised the Shahbaz government for constituting a one-member judicial commission in order to hush up the case.

Talking to reporters after calling on Dr Qadri’s son, Mr Khosa said Lahore High Court’s Justice Ali Baqar Najafi was a junior judge and not yet confirmed. “Why the government did not request for constitution of the commission comprising senior judges of the Supreme Court to investigate this matter of high importance in which innocent people had been killed by police?”

He said commissions comprising senior judges of the Supreme Court were constituted in the cases of Hamid Mir, Musharraf and Memogate, but no high-powered commission was set up to investigate the Lahore tragedy because the PML-N government was allegedly involved in it.

Mr Khosa said the Sharif brothers used to get a “clean chit” from such commissions. He demanded resignation of Shahbaz Sharif and Rana Sanaullah.

In a separate development, PML-Q legislators submitted a resolution to the Punjab Assembly secretariat on Thursday on the Lahore tragedy.

Meanwhile, Husain Mohyuddin, son of Dr Tahirul Qadri, was declared innocent by police for lack of evidence against him. Initially, police had booked him along with 3,000 others for hurling threats at anti-encroachment squad.

The one-judge inquiry commission started its proceedings on Thursday and directed the Punjab inspector general of police, the district coordination officer and the director general of the Lahore Development Authority to submit detailed reports.

The IGP was also asked to submit FIRs, along with complete record of investigation so far carried out into the incident.

Infamous PML-N activist Gullu Butt, who was caught on video leading the raiding police party and damaging vehicles parked in the area was thrashed by lawyers when police produced him before a court to seek his remand.

Death toll in the incident increased to nine with the death of another injured PAT activist.

The Lahore High Court Bar Association offered ghaibana namaz-i-janaza of those killed in police firing.

The opposition walked out of the Punjab Assembly to protest the killings.

A delegation of the Milli Yakjehti Council, an alliance of 14 religious parties, visited the offices of Minhajul Quran and expressed solidarity with the victims.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2014