LHC rejects appeals to summon Sharif brothers in Model Town case

The Lahore High Court (LHC) rejected on Wednesday appeals by Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) to summon Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shehbaz Sharif regarding the 2014 Model Town incident.

During the hearing today, the three-member bench announced the verdict it had reserved in June. The bench comprising Justice Sardar Ahmed Naeem, Justice Alia Neelum and Justice Qasim Khan decided to uphold an anti-terrorism court's (ATC) decision to exclude 12 political leaders accused in the case, local media reported.

These political leaders include Nawaz, Shehbaz, Hamza Shehbaz, Rana Sanaullah, Saad Rafiq, Khawaja Asif, Pervez Rashid, Abid Sher Ali, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, personal secretary to chief minister Syed Tauqir Shah, home secretary Azam Suleman and commissioner Lahore Rashid Mehmood Langrial.

In April, ATC indicted 116 police officials in the Model Town incident after PAT's complaint. The Model Town incident had led to the death of at least 14 people and left 85 people injured. The incident took place when the police outside Minhajul Quran clashed with the PAT workers.