File picture shows Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (front, left) at the Pakistan National Assembly in 2013. (Wikimedia Commons)
A Pakistani court has upheld a decision to register a murder case against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his brother and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, and 19 other top officials over a fatal police raid at the headquarters of a populist Islamic preacher on June 17. The court announced its ruling on Tuesday.
At least 14 people, including two women, were killed and around 100 others wounded when police fired live rounds and tear gas to disperse supporters of Canada-based Pakistani preacher and cleric Tahir ul Qadri at Model Town in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.
The deadly raid took place a week before Qadri’s scheduled arrival in Pakistan to lead a movement against the Sharif government.
On August 16, a lower court in Lahore directed police to register a murder case against 21 people, including the Sharifs, as nominated by Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tahreek Party in its complaint. The ruling was challenged by four ministers of Sharif’s cabinet.
Justice Mahmood Maqbool Bajwa of Lahore’s High Court yesterday dismissed the challenge. However he asked police to produce concrete evidence before arresting any of the accused.
“The dismissal of the government’s petition proves that the courts are dispensing justice independently,” Qadri’s counsel Mansoor Afridi told reporters.
Federal Railway Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, who is one of the ministers nominated in the case, told a local news channel that the government was considering filing an intra-court appeal.
But Afridi claimed there was no justification for such an action. “Police have to implement the order and there is no justification to seek further legal opinion.”
Qadri, who has been encamped outside Parliament House along with his thousands of followers since August 15, hailed the court’s decision and reiterated his demand for the Sharifs’ resignations.
“The Sharif brothers will not be spared,” he said. “They will be hanged for the killing of innocent people in Model Town.”
He has warned that the situation could become “uncontrollable” if his demand for the dissolution of assemblies was not met by Wednesday.
Prime Minister Sharif has met with military chief General Raheel Sharif to discuss Qadri’s deadline.
"There was a consensus on the need to resolve the ongoing issue expeditiously in the best national interest," a statement from the prime minister's office said.