Model Town tragedy: JIT records Nawaz Sharif's statement
The Supreme Court had ordered formation of a new JIT to probe into the Model Town case.
LAHORE (Dunya News) – The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on Wednesday recorded statement of former premier Nawaz Sharif after interrogating him in the Kot Lakhpat Jail for about 2 hours in the Model Town tragedy – which left 14 members of Minhaj-ul-Quran International (MQI) killed and dozens injured on June 17, 2014.
On Monday, the JIT recorded statement of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif in the same case.
On March 16, the provincial home department of Punjab permitted the JIT to proceed with the investigation into the case.
According to sources, the JIT members, led by the JIT head AD Khwaja, recorded his statement at the jail, where he is serving a seven-year prison sentence in Al-Azizia Reference case.
Besides, the investigation team has recorded statements of various PML-N leaders in the same case.
On March 14, an accountability court permitted Punjab police to record the statement of Sharif in the Model Town case.
On March 7, the newly-formed JIT had summoned PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and party leaders Rana Sanaullah, Khawaja Asif and Pervaiz Rasheed to record their statements.
Judge Arshad Malik had presided over the hearing on a plea filed by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Muhammad Iqbal seeking court permission to interrogate Sharif in the jail.
However, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor Mirza Usman opposed the request and pleaded that the accountability court was not the proper forum to seek such permission.
The prosecutor had pleaded that the petitioner should approach the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in this regard.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had ordered formation of a new joint investigation team (JIT) to find the facts that led to the killing of 14 supporters of Dr Tahirul Qadri’s during a police action in Lahore.
