2014 Lahore clash
The 2014 Lahore clash,[1][2] or Model Town tragedy (Urdu: سانحہ ماڈل ٹاؤن),[3] or Lahore incident, was a violent clash that ensued between the Punjab Police and Pakistan Awami Tehreek activists on 17 June 2014 resulting in several protesters being killed by the police gunfire.[4] The standoff lasted for almost 11 hours when the police′s anti-encroachment squad launched an operation to remove the barriers from the road leading to the offices of Minhaj-ul-Quran and the residence of PAT founder Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri in Model Town, Lahore.
The incident was broadcast live on various local news channels[5] and there were conflicting accounts of how the standoff began.[6] Police claimed that they were attacked by people inside the PAT secretariat, a claim that is denied by party chief Qadri. In the live footage broadcast on television, the policemen were shown firing assault rifles and lobbing tear gas canisters at the protesting masses while the protesters threw stones at the police.[6]
Background
On 16 June 2014, the Pakistan Awami Tehreek founder and chief Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri warned the government of "serious consequences" if anything was to happen to him on his return to Pakistan on 23 June 2014. For some time, Qadri had been amassing the support of political parties in the opposition to form a grand alliance against the incumbent Nawaz Sharif administration.[7] Qadri had successfully rallied for and acquired the support of political stalwarts like Pakistan Muslim League (Q) president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rasheed in forming a "grand alliance" against the government.[8]
The incident
At around 1am PKT on 17 June 2014, the Punjab Police launched an anti-encroachment operation to remove barriers outside the offices of Minhaj-ul-Quran International and Qadri's residence in the Model Town suburb in Lahore. The police reached the PAT headquarters in a large contingent and demanded the party workers to remove the barricades which they claimed were illegal.[4] The raid was untimely in contrast to the routine morning raids the police often conducts in similar cases.[9]
The PAT workers insisted that the barricades were illegal and that they had been set up four years ago to protect Qadri′s home and office when he issued a decree against the Taliban.[4] Nevertheless, the police carried on with their operation to demolish the Jersey barriers with bulldozers prompting the PAT workers and activists to resist the police efforts by starting a protest against the police action.
Live media coverage
After the initial protests, the police retreated for a while, only to return in greater numbers at 5am. In the meantime, PAT workers had also managed to amass a crowd of supporters and called in the local media. The protesters started pelting the police squad with stones to protest against the removal of barriers. The violent resistance from the protesters led the police to retreat once again. Throughout the ensuing clash, reporters and journalists managed to cover the scenes in live broadcasts aired across various national news channels for the rest of the night and the following day.[5]
Negotiations with PAT
Upon gauging the violent reaction from the protesting crowds, DCO Muhammad Usman and DIG Operations Rana Jabbar negotiated[10] with PAT general-secretary Khurram Nawaz Gandapur and chief security officer (CSO) Altaf Shah. Shah was adamant that he and his party workers would not let the police remove the barriers. According to the Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Chaudhry Shafique Ahmad, there were two rounds of negotiations between the party officials and the police where the party workers were asked to remove the hurdles on their own.[9]
When the negotiations failed to bring fruit, the police returned for a third time with a 100-strong squad at 09:30 am to forcefully remove the barriers. They were met with fierce retaliation yet again as the protesters pelted the police with stones, resulting in the injuries of 20 policemen. Eyewitness accounts suggested that the police were forced to retreat after gunshots were fired in the air by PAT activists present in bunkers.[9]
Violent measures
The police returned for a fourth time at 12:00 am. This time, the force was led in groups commanded by seven-to-eight SPs where some put focus on firing directly into the crowd while others used various tactics to disperse the crowds,[9] like firing tear gas and charging with batons.[4] With the police firing weapons directly into the crowd of protesters, 8 protesters (including 2 women) died at the scene while around 80 protesters were gravely injured.
The police claimed that the Minhaj-ul-Quran administration had deployed a private militia that was manning the barriers and had effectively converted the residential area into a no-go area. They claimed to have arrested 53 PAT activists while also recovering two Kalashnikov rifles, three pistols and 33 empty shells.[11] Qadri later said that the number of arrests was understated by the police as more than 200 of his party workers were missing and unaccounted for.[12]
Formal inquisition
Immediately following the incident, the Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif ordered a judicial inquiry into the events that unfolded on the day. He said he was "saddened over the killings" and would not hesitate to resign if held responsible for the negligence.[2] He assured that he had already constituted a judicial commission to probe the incident.[5]
Sharif denied any knowledge of the police operation and claimed complete ignorance of the bloodshed. His opponents ridiculed him for not knowing about the incident despite the live broadcast that covered the "bloody episode that continued for hours".[5]
Tampering evidence
On 19 June 2014, it was reported that several police officials went to a hospital where the wounded were being treated and altered the medico-legal certificates of injured police officials to show "fake bullet injuries" in order to justify their claim that PAT workers also shot at the police.[12] Qadri accused the provincial government of tampering with the evidence in the hospital records and denied that his party workers had any arms at all. He also asked the police to produce the confiscated weapons before the media in order to prove their claim.[12]
Qadri rejects judicial commission
Qadri openly rejected the judicial commission and said that the judicial commission could not independently conduct an impartial investigation as long as the PML-N is in government. He expressed concerns that the police may use bribery and scare tactics to coerce false eyewitness accounts in their favour.[12] Later, while addressing a press conference on 21 June 2014 via video-link from Canada, Qadri urged for an investigation team comprising representatives of the ISI, MI and IB, and a judicial commission of three supreme court judges to probe the incident.[13]
Political reactions
Reaction of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek
The PAT chief Qadri said that the reason for the police action was to "threaten him and his party" before his arrival in Pakistan on 23 June 2014.[14]
Reaction of incumbent government
The federal minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal was asked to brief the house on the Lahore killings.
Justifying use of force
In justifying the police operation, the Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah Khan told the press that "for a person who consistently defies the constitution and the democratic system, Tahir-ul-Qadri had been trying to bulldoze the Pakistani democracy by spreading anarchy". He blamed the religious leader of inciting hatred by asking innocent civilians to take oaths on the Quran to amass against the government.[15] Tahir-ul-Qadri later vehemently denied such claims and called this justification for the operation as being preposterous.
Rana Sanaullah also justified the operation by claiming that the police were able to identify several armed men and weapons at the Minhaj-ul-Quran offices,[15] a claim refuted by several PAT officials. After the operation ended, no police official was immediately held responsible for mishandling and criminal negligence.[9]
Ministers removed from posts
In a press conference at the PML-N Central Secretariat in Lahore on 21 June 2014, Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif said that he had decided to remove the Punjab Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Rana Sanaullah Khan and Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Dr Toqueer Shah from their posts to ensure fair and transparent investigation into the incident.[3]
Reaction of opposition parties
Following the incident, major parties in opposition including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League (Q; PML-Q) boycotted the Punjab Assembly in protest.[16]
Pakistan Peoples Party
The Pakistan Peoples Party condemned the attack. The opposition leader Syed Khursheed Shah said that the events were a "conspiracy against democracy allegedly hatched by Shahbaz Sharif". He condemned the use of force against Tahir-ul-Qadri's supporters.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
PTI also condemned the attack and the party's central president Javed Hashmi asked the government to stop the killings of innocent people immediately. PTI's Punjab president Ejaz Chaudhry demanded an apology from prime minister Nawaz Sharif and the chief minister Shahbaz Sharif while stating that the "government was responsible for [the] incident" and that "there was no justification for such an incident".[16]
Muttahida Qaumi Movement
The MQM condemned the police action and announced a day of mourning for the victims. Party leader Farooq Sattar called the police operation "undemocratic and barbaric". MQM's deputy convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqi stated that "the protest of the PAT workers was peaceful".[16]
References
- ^ Tanveer, Rana (20 June 2014). "Lahore clashes: Will accept only JIT with ISI, IB, MI reps, says Qadri". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
- ^ a b "Pakistan: Eight die as Lahore police clash with Qadri supporters". BBC News. 17 June 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
- ^ a b Tanveer, Rana; Manan, Abdul (21 June 2014). "The axe falls: Heads finally roll over Model Town tragedy". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
- ^ a b c d Gillani, Waqar (17 June 2014). "7 Killed as Pakistan Police Clash With Preacher's Followers". New York Times. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
- ^ a b c d "PPP, MQM resolutions condemn Lahore killings". The News International. 20 June 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
- ^ a b Nauman, Qasim (17 June 2014). "Pakistan Police Clash With Supporters of Canada-Based Cleric". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
- ^ Muhammad, Peer (16 June 2014). "Bracing for the worst: PAT warns govt against arrest of their leader". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
- ^ "Chaudhry brothers, Sheikh Rasheed to form grand alliance against govt". The Express Tribune. 12 June 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
- ^ a b c d e Ghumman, Faisal Ali (18 June 2014). "Lahore clash: Who caused the bloodshed?". Dawn. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
- ^ "منہاج القرآن سیکریٹیریٹ واقعہ، ٢ خواتین ٨ افراد جاں بحق". Daily Jang (in Urdu). 17 June 2014.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|trans_title=ignored (|trans-title=suggested) (help) - ^ Mahmood, Amjad (18 June 2014). "Eight killed in raid on Qadri's Lahore HQ". Dawn. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
- ^ a b c d Tanveer, Rana (19 June 2014). "Pakistan Awami Tehrik chief rejects judicial commission". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
- ^ "Model Town clashes: Qadri wants intelligence agencies, SC to probe killing of PAT workers". The Express Tribune. 21 June 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
- ^ Khan, Azam; Tanveer, Rana (17 June 2014). "PAT, police clashes: CCPO Lahore, DIG operations removed". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
- ^ a b "طاہر القادری آئین پاکستان و جمہوریت سے انحراف کی بات کرتے ہیں، رانا ثنااللہ". Daily Jang (in Urdu). 17 June 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|trans_title=ignored (|trans-title=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c Nasir, Saqib; Khan, Faraz (17 June 2014). "MQM announces 'day of mourning', urges transporters, businesses to remain open". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 21 June 2014.