LAHORE - Justice Mahmood Maqbool Bajwa of the Lahore High Court referred a petition, seeking Model Town report public, to the chief to fix the case before full bench.
As the proceedings commenced on Monday, the judge was informed that the similar matter was pending before the full bench. On it, the judge sent the file to the chief justice.
Minhajul Quran Secretariat administration through their petition submitted that the government, it seemed, would not release Model Town inquiry report. At least 14 people lost their lives and 85 others fell injured in the incident but the culprits were not brought to justice.
The petitioner said the government wanted to protect the guilty authorities. He asked the court to order the provincial government to make the inquiry report public. Justice Ali Baqar Najafi of the LHC had held the judicial inquiry. In another case, Justice Mahmood Maqbool Bajwa of the LHC directed federal and Punjab governments to submit details about condemned prisoners on death row in jails.
Judicial Activism Penal had filed the petition saying that around 8,000 prisoners were on death row, however, due to suspension of death penalty by the govt in 2008, the executions had not been carried out.
He stated that it was right of every citizen to know how many prisoners were languishing in jails whose death sentence had been confirmed by courts and the president of Pakistan had also rejected their mercy appeals.
The petitioner said the government was bound to provide the required details in view of Article 19A of the Constitution. He also sought details that how many foreigners had been awarded capital punishment and/or waiting for execution.
A law officer told the judge that that implementation on the death penalties had been resumed and the executions of the condemned prisoners were in process.
The judge, however, directed the law officer to submit statistics of the prisoners whose execution had been pending and the reasons behind the delay. The court will resume hearing on January 19.