LAHORE: Pakistan Awami Tehrik Chief Tahirul Qadri on Friday said an investigation team comprising representatives of the ISI, MI, and IB and a judicial commission of three Supreme Court (SC) judges should probe the Tuesday carnage in Model Town.

Addressing a press conference through video-link from Canada, Qadri said a joint investigation team and a three-member panel of SC judges had been formed to investigate the attack on TV anchor Hamid Mir.

“Why can’t a similar investigation be launched into Tuesday’s police attack that killed 12 people and injured at least 80?” Qadri said.

He rejected the single-person judicial commission formed by the provincial government.

Qadri said he would land in Islamabad on June 23. “This is my last press conference from Canada. I will now leave for Pakistan.”

Representatives of various political parties, including Ejaz Chaudhry from the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Jahangir Badr and Mian Manzoor Wattoo from the Pakistan Peoples Party, Chaudhry Zaheeruddin from the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, Rasheed Godail from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Sahibzada Hassan Raza from the Sunni Ittehad Council and Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen attended the conference at the Pakistan Awami Tehreek secretariat.

They also held a meeting to express solidarity with the PAT activists and condemned the police operation. They later issued a joint communiqué raising several demands.

They demanded that the government form a joint investigation team and a three-member SC bench to investigate the incident.

They also demanded that the government release the PAT workers arrested following the clash. They asked the authorities to produce the missing PAT workers who they claimed had been sent to undisclosed locations.

They said they backed the PAT’s demand for registration of an FIR against the chief minister, some of his ministers and police officers.

Separately, Jamaat-i-Islami deputy chief Hafiz Muhammad Idrees condemned the incident.

In a statement, he said the Sharifs had learnt nothing from their past experiences.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 21st, 2014.

Source: www.tribune.com.pk