Just a year after he was elected the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Nawaz Sharif finds himself facing some serious challenges, including allegations of murder.
IB times reported two days ago that the Lahore Sessions Court ordered the police for filing a case against 21 people, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif, Chief Minister of Punjab Province, over the Model Town killings that happened about 2 months ago.
The incident in question happened in Lahore (capital city of Punjab province) in June where police brutally shot nearly a dozen people in broad daylight, some of them falling dead on spot and others who succumbed to injuries later. The victims were demonstrating against the current government, which is led federally by Nawaz Sharif and by his brother Shahbaz Sharif in Punjab province. The incident was called state terrorism on its own civilians.
The silence of mainstream media in Pakistan and abroad on this case is perhaps no less dramatic than the court ruling itself. Among the print media, only Dawn, Pakistan’s famous English daily, seems to have published a story about this court ruling while the rest of English dailies and online news sites are making no buzz about the case.
Some private TV channels, broadcasting in Urdu language, however, did air the ruling’s news as Breaking News. On the other hand, many online papers and news sites in India published the story of the court ruling asking for the Sharifs and others in administration to be indicted for Model Town killings.