LAHORE: Rana Sanaullah and Dr Aisha Ghaus Malik took oath as Punjab law minister provincial finance minister respectively at the Governor House in Punjab on Friday.

Punjab Governor Rafique Rajwana administered the oath of office to the newly sworn-in law minister.

Rana had previously lost his ministry in the wake of last year’s Model Town tragedy during which at least eleven Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers were killed and over a 100 people injured after clashes with Punjab police.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had removed Rana and his own secretary Dr Tauqir Shah last year, saying “the difficult decision was necessary to make it visible to everyone that justice is being done” in the Model Town police clash case.

The move was seen as a step to offset the pressure the ruling PML-N was facing after the incident.

Last week, a joint investigation team (JIT) formed by the government of Punjab to investigate the Model Town incident had exonerated Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Sanaullah from charges of ordering or abetting the police action.

According to the report, all JIT members had unanimously declared Shahbaz Sharif and Rana Sanaullah ‘innocent’ and dismissed allegations levelled against them in the FIR lodged by Minhajul Quran’s director administration as ‘baseless and without any evidence’. Neither the federal government had any role in law and order of the province nor was any evidence found to support the abetment charges.