- Faisal Town police had registered an FIR against the workers on charges of attacking police personnel and other government officials.
- PAT’s counsel Naeemuddin Chaudhry argued before the court that the petitioners were not nominated in the FIR.
- He said the prosecution failed to produce any evidence during trial proceedings.
LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Saturday acquitted 12 workers of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) in 2014 Model Town incident.
Faisal Town police had registered an FIR against the workers on charges of attacking police personnel and other government officials.
PAT’s counsel Naeemuddin Chaudhry argued before the court that the petitioners were not nominated in the FIR and the police arrested them two months after the Model Town incident when they came to attend chehlum of the workers who lost their lives due to police firing.
Read more: Court gives PAT last chance for arguments against suspects’ plea
He said the prosecution failed to produce any evidence during trial proceedings to prove its charges against the petitioners. He said the police registered a fabricated FIR against the petitioners at the behest of the then government. He asked the court to acquit the petitioners of the charges.
After hearing the arguments of the counsel, the court allowed the acquittal applications of the petitioners and acquitted them of the charges for lack of evidence.
The petitioners include Muhammad Nadeem, Muhammad Saleem, Mushtaq Ahmad, Muhammad Ramzan, Aurangzeb, Ghulam Mustafa, Zafar Iqbal, Muhammad Mukhtar, Mian Manzoor Ahmad, Murtaza Shah, Mudassar Mushtaq and Waqar Saleem. They all were on bail.
Ten people were killed and around 100 injured during an `anti-encroachment` operation outside the Model Town residence of PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri on June 17, 2014.
Trial of the incident is pending before the court on a private complaint filed by Jawad Hamid of PAT.
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