Online News : Nawaz demands full bench judicial hearing regarding Lal Masjid massacre

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

NAWAZ DEMANDS FULL BENCH JUDICIAL INQUIRY REGARDING LAL MASJID MASSACRE

July 19, 2007

LONDON: Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has expressed his grave concern over the dangerous consequences of the Lal Masjid/Jamia Hafsa operation.

In a statement released here today, the PML-N Chief termed the military attack on Jamia Hafsa as “a politically shortsighted reckless act of adventurism, following which has unleashed a wave of anger across Pakistan, endangering national unity and creating a dangerous and highly provoked inflammable sentiments across Pakistan and must be calmed before they erupt into a volcanic chasm of hatred and division in society and Country. The former premier has demanded the supreme court to take Suo motto action in view of doubts, mysteries and controversies due to regime’s conspicuous attempts to conceal the truth and withhold important evidence by prohibiting the media from reviewing the complex during three days of ‘cleaning,clearing, rearranging and displaying weaponry “.

He demanded an accurate list of students and residents of Jamia Hafsa must be presented before the apex court by an authentic source to determine the truth, the federal government submit before the apex court the exact number of deaths during the operation and confirm whether they could have been avoided.

He also stressed for a emphatic summon for Jamia Hafsa prisoners be issued to appear before the court ,accompanied by a representing counsel of choice with evidence pertaining to their detention, the names and hospitals where the injured are admitted.

He also demanded that the names and number of missing persons from the Jamia Hafsa madrasa must be obtained by the court to make a factual evaluation of casualties and the crimes under which many young students are detained while .Abdul Aziz Ghazi and his family must have full access to counsel and be treated in accordance with the law i.e. innocent until proven guilty of charges.

Mian Sahib also contended that since the objectives of those inside Jamia Hafsa remain incomprehensible, and the presence of foreign militants remains ambiguous and without evidence.

Considering these, the importance of a Supreme Court investigation deliberating upon the circumstances leading up to the Jamia Hafsa operation and affixing responsibility for lapses on the part of the regime and its organs without further delay is a must.

The Supreme Court also must question the government about the exact number of Madrassah complexes in the country where the presence of militants is suspected, so that operations against them can be averted without collateral damage and before a repeat of Jamia Hafsa incident.

The judicial probe also needs to invoke a fundamental interrogation to find the precise cause for the monumental and historic incompetence of intelligence agencies equipped with the highest monitoring systems, in failing to detect and report the build up of arms and ammunition, at a complex situated in Pakistan’s federal capital, where security measures for the general, his government and foreign diplomats have been so extensive that even the bugging of judicial offices have been deemed necessary to security.

The PML-N chief emphasized the paramount importance of removing the nations doubts and restoring faith in the system, but the new found justification of rage being expressed by unprecedented suicide attacks in NWFP and the CJ’s reception in the federal capital would be pacified with nothing less than a unanimous decision endorsed by the full bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The PML-N Chief said that in the event that the Supreme Court delays a Suo motto action, consultations to move the courts on the APDM platform have already commenced.