Model Town tragedy report: there is blood on the hands of rulers.

The Justice Baqir Najafi Inquiry Tribunal report, at last, saw the light of day about the massacre of the 14 Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers in the broad daylight in 2014 before the television cameras. The damning, carefully crafted report implicates Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and then senior police officers in the bloodshed in veiled and vivid words, though leaving its conclusion to the readers. In the light of the report, it is better for Shahbaz Sharif and Rana Sanaullah to resign from their offices so that the trial, which has been going on directionless since its inception, must reach some logical conclusion. 

Their offices can influence the outcome of the trial if they do not resign.

The Punjab government had been sitting on the report since its compilation by the tribunal, which had been established on the direction of the chief minister, who in a hurriedly called press conference on the day of the massacre had promised that if the inquiry tribunal showed an iota of his involvement in the massacre, he would at once resign. 

The ensuing development belied his words as his government sat on the report and took the cover of a court order not to make it public. Now, when the court ordered the government to release the report, Rana Sanaullah took lead in pointing out ‘errors’ in the report, and also said that the report has no value addition to the ongoing trial.

If that is the case, the whole exercise of the tribunal was on a wild goose chase. Regardless of its being worthlessness in the trial, the report is politically damning for the Pakistan Muslim League-N, whose Punjab leaders have been declared guilty of hushing up the facts and trying to conceal the fact-finding exercise by the tribunal.

“"In criminology, it is a golden principle for assessment of the evidence that a man can tell a lie but circumstances don't. The facts and circumstances of the bloodbath clearly show that the police officers actively participated in the massacre”, reads the report. The report, in the light of circumstances, uncovered the bitter truth: the chief minister had ordered the operation to remove barriers placed outside the residence of PAT Chief Dr Tahirul Qadri; police officers were well aware a Lahore High Court stay order against removing the barriers; the Inter-Services Intelligence reports that the police shot straight fires at PAT workers who were resisting the police; government and police officials tried to hush the matters and did not state facts before the inquiry tribunal and so on.

There are lessons for the government in the report. A greater transparency in matters related to the government helps the victims of violence to gain justice. A society working on the principles of justice leads to the welfare and betterment of the public. Also, the police force, working blindly to the wishes of the executives and political masters are bound to face the wrath of the law of the land sooner or later.

The report may not help the victims of the tragedy immediately, but it will be guiding light for the police force, the executives, civil society and the public at large that circumstances do not hide the murderers, and this report sees blood on the hands of the present government set up.  

Shakespearean tragedy in the house of Sharifs

Nawaz Sharif or Shahbaz Sharif? 

Maryam Nawaz or Hamza Shahbaz? 

The in-house fighting for the throne of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) is not a secret anymore. Calls to hand over the reins of the ruling party to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif are growing within the party. 

First, it was PML-N MNA Sultan Mahmood Hinjra, of Kot Addu, who while addressing a public rally in the city, all in the presence of Shahbaz Sharif, demanded that Nawaz Sharif step down from the party office and pass on the throne to his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif. When he finished the speech, Shahbaz Sharif showed his annoyance to him at the stage. Mr Hinjra maintains that whatever he had spoken up was planned and Shahbaz Sharif knew very well of his speech. 

Later on, Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Riaz Pirzada used a better platform – the Islamabad National Press Club – and demanded the change of guards in the top office of the party. His words attracted the attention of the mainstream media. Soon, a meeting of MPAs in Lahore became the talk of the town, where, according to of one of the participants, provincial minister Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, the matter of the party leadership was discussed.

Insiders say that the two brothers have the difference of opinion on how to cope with the post-Panama case verdict situation. 

Nawaz Sharif and his children have been indicted in graft cases and face an uncertain future, whereas Shahbaz Sharif and his family are relatively in calmer waters at the moment, for there is no case going on against them. Wounded Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz have indicated, though not so clearly, taken up a confrontation with the state institutions, Supreme Court, 

and the army, to be precise. 

Shahbaz Sharif, along with former federal minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, supports reconciliatory approach.

Reconciliation or not, Shahbaz Sharif also feels deceived as he was first tipped for the prime minister office after the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif but only to be dropped within days. Later, he was also not considered for the PML-N top office. Over the time, Maryam Nawaz has made her entry into active politics and now she is considered the potential successor of Nawaz Sharif. Hamza Sharif has rebelled and aired his concerns about the rise of Maryam Nawaz.

The Shakespearean style in-house fighting poses questions for the Sharif family and the PML-N.

First, the Sharif family should ask themselves: Is it the war between Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif or Hamza Shahbaz and Maryam Nawaz? Once they find the bone of contention, the family can sit and talk out the terms to reach a settlement.

Second, PML-N leaders should ask themselves and each other: how to keep the party intact in case the House of Sharif breaks into factions, as is the history of every Muslim League.

Only, the time will decide the fate of the party, which represents Pakistan’s urban middle class. Faced with graft cases, and in-house fighting, the party seems to have a bleak future. The disintegration of an established political party is always a great loss to democracy. In the case of the PML-N, a party without any political ideology, its breakup may not be an immediate loss to the political foundations of the country. 

We should, however, be ready for the chaos that may ensue in central and north Punjab.