ATC sends 53 PAT workers on a 10-day-long judicial remand

Petition filed against Nawaz, Shahbaz over... by dawn-news RAWALPINDI: An anti-terrorist court (ATC) on Friday sent 53 PAT workers to jail after ordering a 10-day-long judicial remand on the charges of violence on police outside Islamabad airport, DawnNews reported. The case was heard today by ATC Judge Pervez Ismail Joia. The court also issued a notice to police on bail applications of all the PAT members and adjourned the hearing. Earlier on Friday, the director of Tehreek-i-Minhajul Quran district (TMQ), Jawwad Ahmed, submitted a petition on Friday against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif and five others calling for the registration of a case against them over the Model Town tragedy. The petitioner also included the names of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif in the application. In his petition, Ahmed had named former Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah, ASP Model Town Haroonur Rasheed and Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) activist Gullu Butt as parties. The petitioner said the government was solely responsible in the Model Town tragedy and claimed that a case should be registered against the specified people on charges of murder and robbery in Model Town on June 17. The petition springs from an anti-encroachment drive that was conducted by a contingent of police personnel in order to remove the barriers placed outside Pakistan Awami Tehreek's (PAT) chief Tahirul Qadri's Lahore residence. Qadri also heads the TMQ. During this drive, a violent clash erupted between police personnel and PAT supporters that killed at least seven people, including women. A number of vehicles were also damaged during the skirmish in Lahore's Model Town.