View source for Lahore Massacre

{{infobox civil conflict
|title        = 2014 Lahore clash
|partof       =
|image        =
|caption      =
|place        = [[Model Town, Lahore|Model Town]], [[Lahore]], Pakistan
|coordinates  = {{Coord|31|29|0|N|74|18|32.5|E}}
|date         = 17 June 2014
|methods      = [[Protest]] against operation
|causes       = Police-led anti-encroachment operation
|goals        = 
|status       = 
|result       = Police operation was successful leading to deaths of protesters by [[police brutality]]
|fatalities   = 14
|injuries     = 100+
|arrests      = 53+
|side1        = {{plainlist|
* [[Government of Pakistan]]
* [[Punjab Police (Pakistan)|Punjab Police]]}}
|side2        = {{plainlist|
* [[Pakistan Awami Tehreek]]
* [[Minhaj-ul-Quran]]}}
|leadfigures1 = {{plainlist|
* [[Nawaz Sharif]]
* [[Shahbaz Sharif]]
* [[Rana Sanaullah]]
* [[District Coordination Officer|DCO]] Muhammad Usman
* [[Deputy inspector general of police|DIG]] Rana Jabbar}}
|leadfigures2 = [[Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri]]
|howmany1     = 100+
|howmany2     = 3000+
|casualties1  = 
|casualties2  = 
|casualties_label =
|notes =
}}

The '''2014 Lahore clash''',<ref>{{cite news
|first=Rana
|last=Tanveer
|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/724623/qadris-son-calls-punjab-cm-killer-for-lahore-incident/
|title=Lahore clashes: Will accept only JIT with ISI, IB, MI reps, says Qadri
|date=20 June 2014
|work=[[The Express Tribune]]
|accessdate=21 June 2014}}</ref><ref name="BBCLahoreClash">{{cite news
|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-27885827
|title=Pakistan: Eight die as Lahore police clash with Qadri supporters
|date=17 June 2014
|work=[[BBC News]]
|accessdate=22 June 2014}}</ref> more commonly known as the '''Model Town tragedy''' or the '''Lahore massacre''' ({{lang-ur|سانحہ ماڈل ٹاؤن}}),<ref name="MinistersSacked">{{cite news
|first=Rana
|last=Tanveer
|first2=Abdul
|last2=Manan
|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/724894/the-axe-falls-heads-finally-roll-over-model-town-tragedy/
|title=The axe falls: Heads finally roll over Model Town tragedy
|date=21 June 2014
|work=[[The Express Tribune]]
|accessdate=22 June 2014}}</ref> or simply '''Lahore incident''', was a violent clash that ensued between the [[Punjab Police (Pakistan)|Punjab Police]] and [[Pakistan Awami Tehreek]] activists on 17 June 2014 resulting in several protesters being killed by the police gunfire.<ref name="NYTLahoreClash">{{cite news
|first=Waqar
|last=Gillani
|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/18/world/asia/pakistan-police-clash-with-qadri-followers.html?_r=0
|title=7 Killed as Pakistan Police Clash With Preacher’s Followers
|date=17 June 2014
|publisher=[[New York Times]]
|accessdate=22 June 2014}}</ref> 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|Model Town]], [[Lahore]].

The incident was broadcast live on various local news channels<ref name="LiveBroadcast">{{cite news
|url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-257018-PPP-MQM-resolutions-condemn-Lahore-kil
|title=PPP, MQM resolutions condemn Lahore killings
|date=20 June 2014
|work=[[The News International]]
|accessdate=22 June 2014}}</ref> and there were conflicting accounts of how the standoff began.<ref name="WSJLahoreClash">{{cite news
|first=Qasim
|last=Nauman
|url=http://online.wsj.com/articles/pakistan-police-clash-with-supporters-of-canada-based-cleric-1403012699
|title=Pakistan Police Clash With Supporters of Canada-Based Cleric
|date=17 June 2014
|work=[[Wall Street Journal]]
|accessdate=22 June 2014}}</ref> 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.<ref name="WSJLahoreClash" />

Qadri strongly condemned the attack and called it the worst form of [[state terrorism]]. Qadri vowed to avenge the deaths of his political workers by bringing about a revolution that would hasten the end of the rule of [[Prime Minister of Pakistan|prime minister]] [[Nawaz Sharif]] and his brother [[Shahbaz Sharif]].<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-151048-State-terrorism-will-not-be-tolerated:-Qadri|title=State Terrorism will not be tolerated: Qadri
|date=17 June 2014
|work=[[The News International]]
|accessdate=2 July 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.nation.com.pk/national/23-Jun-2014/qadri-vows-to-take-revenge-by-revolution
|title=Qadri vows to take revenge by revolution
|date=23 June 2014
|work=The Nation
|accessdate=2 July 2014}}</ref>

Following the incident, Qadri′s importance grew in [[Politics of Pakistan|Pakistani politics]] where he had "otherwise been regarded by most observers as posing little threat to the government".<ref>{{cite news
|first=Jon
|last=Boone
|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/23/pakistan-cleric-qadri-flight-diverted
|title=Pakistani cleric claims government 'hijack' after flight diverted from capital
|date=23 June 2014
|work=[[The Guardian]]
|accessdate=24 June 2014}}</ref> Where some analysts considered Qadri a "political non-entity" before the incident,<ref name="GulluButtsReign">{{cite news
|first=Babar
|last=Sattar
|url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1114456/the-reign-of-gullu-butts
|title=The reign of Gullu Butts
|date=23 June 2014
|work=[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]]
|accessdate=24 June 2014}}</ref> others expressed concern that the [[Pakistan Muslim League (N)]] (PML-N) government reacted "disproportionately and aggressively" in this matter,<ref name="QadriGovtScare">{{cite news
|first=Aamir
|last=Yasin
|first2=Amir
|last2=Waseem
|first3=Mohammad
|last3=Asghar
|url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1114575/whos-afraid-of-tahirul-qadri
|title=Who’s afraid of Tahirul Qadri?
|date=23 June 2014
|work=[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]]
|accessdate=24 June 2014}}</ref> "shooting itself in the foot"<ref name="GulluButtsReign" /> and feeling "'insecure' with the attention that Qadri [had] managed to attract".<ref name="QadriGovtScare" />

==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 [[Sharif III Government|Nawaz Sharif administration]].<ref>{{cite news
|first=Peer
|last=Muhammad
|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/722446/bracing-for-the-worst-pat-warns-govt-against-arrest-of-their-leader/
|title=Bracing for the worst: PAT warns govt against arrest of their leader
|date=16 June 2014
|work=[[The Express Tribune]]
|accessdate=22 June 2014}}</ref> 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 (Pakistan)|Awami Muslim League]] chief [[Sheikh Rasheed]] in forming a "grand alliance" against the government.<ref>{{cite news
|url =http://tribune.com.pk/story/720866/chaudhry-brothers-sheikh-rasheed-to-form-grand-alliance-against-govt/
|title=Chaudhry brothers, Sheikh Rasheed to form grand alliance against govt
|date=12 June 2014
|work=[[The Express Tribune]]
|accessdate=22 June 2014}}</ref>

==The incident==
At around 1am [[Pakistan Standard Time|PKT]] on 17 June 2014, the Punjab Police launched an anti-encroachment operation to remove barriers outside the offices of [[Minhaj-ul-Quran|Minhaj-ul-Quran International]] and Qadri's residence in the [[Model Town, Lahore|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.<ref name="NYTLahoreClash" /> The raid was untimely in contrast to the routine morning raids the police often conducts in similar cases.<ref name="WhoCausedTheBloodshed">{{cite news
|first=Faisal Ali
|last=Ghumman
|url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1113501/who-caused-the-bloodshed
|title=Lahore clash: Who caused the bloodshed?
|date=18 June 2014
|work=[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]]
|accessdate=21 June 2014}}</ref>

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]].<ref name="NYTLahoreClash" /> Nevertheless, the police carried on with their operation to demolish the [[Jersey barrier]]s 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.<ref name="LiveBroadcast" />

===Negotiations with PAT===
Upon gauging the violent reaction from the protesting crowds, [[District Coordination Officer|DCO]] Muhammad Usman and [[Deputy inspector general of police|DIG Operations]] Rana Jabbar negotiated<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://jang.com.pk/jang/jun2014-daily/17-06-2014/index.html
|title=منہاج القرآن سیکریٹیریٹ واقعہ، ٢ خواتین ٨ افراد جاں بحق
|trans_title=Minhaj-ul-Quran Secretariat incidence, 2 women amongst 8 killed
|language=ur
|date=17 June 2014
|work=[[Daily Jang]]
|accessdate=}}</ref> 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.<ref name="WhoCausedTheBloodshed" />

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.<ref name="WhoCausedTheBloodshed" />

===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,<ref name="WhoCausedTheBloodshed" /> like firing [[tear gas]] and charging with [[Baton (law enforcement)|baton]]s.<ref name="NYTLahoreClash" /> 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.

===Anarchy and vandalism===
Amidst all the chaos and police brutality, media cameras were able to capture an unknown vandal smashing cars.<ref name="GulluButt">{{cite news
|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/725443/who-is-gullu-butt/
|title=Who is Gullu Butt?
|date=22 June 2014
|work=[[The Express Tribune]]
|accessdate=24 June 2014}}</ref> It was later identified that the "handlebar-mustached vandal"<ref name="GulluButt" /> was a known police tout and had been a known activist of the [[Pakistan Muslim League (N)]] (PML-N), the party in government.<ref name="GulluButtPMLN">{{cite news
|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/723500/caught-on-tape-vandal-in-chief-is-pml-n-worker/
|title=Caught on tape: Vandal-in-chief is ‘PML-N worker’
|date=18 June 2014
|work=[[The Express Tribune]]
|accessdate=24 June 2014}}</ref> Butt brandished a club he used to smash cars and was also heard chanting slogans.<ref name="GulluButtPMLN" /> In one footage, Butt was also seen leading the law enforcement officers' charge against the protesters.<ref name="GulluButtLeading">{{cite news
|url=http://www.brecorder.com/editorials/0:/1194085:the-lahore-killings/
|title=The Lahore killings
|date=19 June 2014
|work=[[Business Recorder]]
|accessdate=24 June 2014}}</ref> Soon afterwards, Model Town [[Superintendent (police)|SP]] Tariq Aziz was seen chatting and hugging Butt.<ref name="ButtWithPolice">{{cite news
|first=Salman
|last=Aslam
|first2=Asim
|last2=Hussain
|url=http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-30998-Eight-killed-in-police-PAT-clash
|title=Eight killed in police-PAT clash
|date=18 June 2014
|work=[[The News International]]
|accessdate=24 June 2014}}</ref>

Later in an editorial written for the ''[[Daily Times (Pakistan)|Daily Times]]'', [[Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf]] information secretary Andleeb Abbas called Butt a "henchman" of the PML-N government and accused the state police as having "aided, abetted and applauded [the vandal] with absolutely no inhibition for the atrocious crimes that he was committing".<ref>{{cite news
|first=Andleeb
|last=Abbas
|url=http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/22-Jun-2014/dangerous-minds
|title=Dangerous minds
|date=22 June 2014
|work=[[Daily Times (Pakistan)|Daily Times]]
|accessdate=24 June 2014}}</ref>

===Police claims===
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 rifle]]s, three pistols and 33 empty shells.<ref>{{cite news
|first=Amjad
|last=Mahmood
|url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1113425/eight-killed-in-raid-on-qadris-lahore-hq
|title=Eight killed in raid on Qadri’s Lahore HQ
|date=18 June 2014
|work=[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]]
|accessdate=22 June 2014}}</ref> 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.<ref name="PoliceForgery">{{cite news
|first=Rana
|last=Tanveer
|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/723894/pakistan-awami-tehrik-chief-rejects-judicial-commission/
|title=Pakistan Awami Tehrik chief rejects judicial commission
|date=19 June 2014
|work=[[The Express Tribune]]
|accessdate=22 June 2014}}</ref>

On the complaint of a sub-inspector, the [[Faisal Town]] Police later registered a case against more than 3000 PAT workers<ref name="CaseAgainstPATWorkers">{{cite news
|first=Ali
|last=Usman
|first2=Asad
|last2=Kharal
|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/723941/model-town-tragedy-dr-qadris-son-3000-pat-members-nominated-in-fir/
|title=Model Town tragedy: Dr Qadri’s son, 3,000 PAT members nominated in FIR
|date=19 June 2014
|work=[[The Express Tribune]]
|accessdate=24 June 2014}}</ref> under sections 7ATA, 302, 324, 353, 148/149 of the [[Pakistan Penal Code]].<ref name="ButtWithPolice" /> The police [[First Information Report|FIR]] also formally nominated Hussain Mohiuddin, the son of the PAT chief Qadri, as the main accused.<ref name="CaseAgainstPATWorkers" />

==Formal inquisition==
Immediately following the incident, the [[Chief Minister of Punjab (Pakistan)|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.<ref name="BBCLahoreClash" /> He assured that he had already constituted a judicial commission to probe the incident.<ref name="LiveBroadcast" />

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".<ref name="LiveBroadcast" /> Upon watching the TV footage, Sharif ordered for the immediate arrest of the notorious vandal Gullu Butt.<ref name="GulluButtArrested">{{cite news
|url=http://www.nation.com.pk/national/18-Jun-2014/lahore-gullu-butt-arrested-for-rampage
|title=Lahore: Gullu Butt arrested for rampage
|date=18 June 2014
|work=[[The Nation (Pakistan)|The Nation]]
|accessdate=24 June 2014}}</ref> Sharif also asked the federal minister for [[Planning Commission (Pakistan)|Planning and Development]] [[Ahsan Iqbal]] was to brief the house on the Lahore killings.

===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.<ref name="PoliceForgery" /> 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.<ref name="PoliceForgery" />

===Qadri rejects judicial commission===
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.<ref name="OperationDetails">{{cite news
|first=Azam
|last=Khan
|first2=Rana
|last2=Tanveer
|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/722971/4-dead-59-injured-in-clash-between-pat-workers-police-in-lahore/
|title=PAT, police clashes: CCPO Lahore, DIG operations removed
|date=17 June 2014
|work=[[The Express Tribune]]
|accessdate=22 June 2014}}</ref> He 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.<ref name="PoliceForgery" /> 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 [[Inter-Services Intelligence|ISI]], [[Military Intelligence (Pakistan)|MI]] and [[Intelligence Bureau (Pakistan)|IB]], and a judicial commission of three [[Supreme Court of Pakistan|supreme court]] judges to probe the incident.<ref name="ISISCProbe">{{cite news
|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/724881/model-town-clashes-qadri-wants-intelligence-agencies-sc-to-probe-killing-of-pat-workers/
|title=Model Town clashes: Qadri wants intelligence agencies, SC to probe killing of PAT workers
|date=21 June 2014
|work=[[The Express Tribune]]
|accessdate=22 June 2014}}</ref>

===Rana Sanaullah justifies police action===
In justifying the police operation, the [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]] law minister [[Rana Sanaullah Khan]] told the press that "for a person who consistently defies the [[Constitution of Pakistan|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.<ref name="RanaSanaullahStatement">{{cite news
|url=http://jang.com.pk/jang/jun2014-daily/17-06-2014/u21420.htm
|title=طاہر القادری آئین پاکستان و جمہوریت سے انحراف کی بات کرتے ہیں، رانا ثنااللہ
|trans_title=Tahir-ul-Qadir talks of defying the constitution and democratic system of Pakistan, Rana Sanaullah
|language=ur
|date=17 June 2014
|work=[[Daily Jang]]
|accessdate=21 June 2014}}</ref> 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,<ref name="RanaSanaullahStatement" /> a claim refuted by several PAT officials. After the operation ended, no police official was immediately held responsible for mishandling and criminal negligence.<ref name="WhoCausedTheBloodshed" />

===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.<ref name="MinistersSacked" />

==Political reaction of the Opposition==
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 [[Provincial Assembly of the Punjab|Punjab Assembly]] in protest.<ref name="OppositionProtests">{{cite news
|first=Saqib
|last=Nasir
|first2=Faraz
|last2=Khan
|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/723001/mqm-announces-day-of-mourning-against-lahore-clash/
|title=MQM announces 'day of mourning', urges transporters, businesses to remain open
|date=17 June 2014
|work=[[The Express Tribune]]
|accessdate=21 June 2014}}</ref>

The [[Human Rights Watch]] strongly condemned the 'lethal force' by the Police and demanded full investigation. “The Pakistani authorities need to explain why police officers found it necessary to fire live ammunition directly into a crowd of protesters throwing rocks,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “There are a lot of dead and wounded people in Lahore today, and no clear reason why.” <ref>Human Rights Watch (Pakistan: Fully Investigate Deadly Shootings) http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/06/17/pakistan-fully-investigate-deadly-shootings</ref>

The [[Human Rights Commission of Pakistan]] (HRCP) has strongly condemned the police action at the Tahirul Qadri Secretariat.<ref>HRCP condemns police brutality, loss of life in Lahore action http://hrcp-web.org/hrcpweb/hrcp-condemns-police-brutality-loss-of-life-in-lahore-action/</ref>

* '''[[Pakistan Peoples Party]]''' condemned the attack. The [[Leader of the Opposition (Pakistan)|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]]''' 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 of Pakistan|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".<ref name="OppositionProtests" />
* '''[[Muttahida Qaumi Movement]]''' 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".<ref name="OppositionProtests" />

An all parties conference (APC) of political and religious parties except PMLN, PPP, and [[Awami National Party]] (ANP) called by PAT head Dr Qadri on 29 June 2014, condemned the killings and demanded an investigation by Supreme Court's three-member bench. The APC reiterated the demand for Chief Minister's resignation and arrest of the Punjab's to top police officers. The PMLN's central and provincial governments responded to the demands that the investigations are already underway. The federal information minister, Pervez Rasheed, maintained that the parties participating in the APC are trying to "keep their politics alive" as they have no representation in the parliament.<ref name="APC">{{cite news
|first=Rana
|last=Tanveer
|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/728715/apc-demands-resignation-of-shahbaz-sharif-over-model-town-tragedy/
|title=APC demands resignation of Shahbaz Sharif over Model Town tragedy
|date=29 June 2014
|work=[[The Express Tribune]]
|accessdate=1 July 2014}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|3}}

[[Category:Politics of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Protests in Pakistan]]
[[Category:2014 in Pakistan]]
[[Category:History of Lahore]]