Qadri snubs Butt as he tries to hug cleric
Criminal in Model Town police operation was sentenced by court for smashing windscreens
Shahid Aziz alias Gullu Butt, a criminal who was involved in Lahore’s Model Town Police Operation of June 2014, appeared in the Supreme Court yesterday and tried to hug the chief petitioner in the case, noted cleric Allama Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri. However, he was intercepted by the cleric’s security staff and turned away.
The sudden appearance of Butt in the apex court building has revived bitter memories of the police operation in which 14 people were killed and around 500 injured.
On June 17, 2014, Lahore Police after failing to remove encroachment outside the headquarters of Tahir-ul-Qadri, the Minhaj-ul-Quran Secretariat, opened fire on workers and activists of Qadri’s party Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and Tehreek-e-Minhaj Pakistan in broad daylight.
Butt, however, shot to fame in a different role as on that day he smashed the windscreens of dozens of vehicles parked outside the Minhajul-Quran Secretariat. Video clips showing him leading the police party and smashing the windscreens of cars and jeeps went viral on social media.
Earlier he was considered a worker of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) though later the party denied it and disassociated itself from his vandalism.
After the incident, Butt was arrested and during one of several court hearings he was beaten by angry car owners.
Around four and a half months after his arrest, an Anti-Terrorism Court of Lahore awarded a collective punishment of 11 years and three months imprisonment to Butt under five sections of laws on October 30, 2014.
The maximum punishment was five years in jail under section 7 of Anti Terrorism Act, 1997. However, later a Lahore High Court bench set aside the punishment awarded under terrorism charges but upheld his conviction under provisions of PPC.
He was released in March last year and immediately after release became a TV celebrity as different channels in Pakistan interviewed him and invited him to their talk shows.