Sahiwal incident: LHC forms bench, summons JIT head on Jan 28
The IG informed the court that those who were involved in the firing have been suspended.
LAHORE (Dunya News) – Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday has summoned Joint Investigation Team (JIT) head in Sahiwal incident case on January 28.
During the hearing, Chief Justice Sardar Shamim asked Punjab Inspector General Amjad Javed Saleemi about the investigation of the case over which, he told that statements of all the witnesses have not been recorded yet.
The CJ expressed resentment and inquired who gave authority to police to directly open fire on anyone.
The IG informed the court that those who were involved in the firing have been suspended while JIT has also been formed to probe the incident. Justice Sardar further asked to provide time frame for the completion of the investigation over which, the IG said that it will take 30 days.
Subsequently, the court has formed two-member bench to hear the case and directed IG to take steps for prevention of such incidents.
On January 19, CTD officials killed four people, including a couple and their teenage daughter in an alleged “encounter” in Sahiwal, triggering a national outcry that prompted the government to take the security officials into custody and order an investigation into the incident.
The officials claimed that the ‘terrorists’ were killed in an intelligence based operation (IBO). Three other terrorists including Shahid Jabar and Abdul Rahman managed to flee during the chase near the toll plaza of Sahiwal.
They also claimed of confiscating explosives and weapons from the car adding that officers were investigating into the matter as part of the operation in Faisalabad on January 16.
Contrarily, an eye witness has told the media that the deceased were neither equipped with any weapon nor resisted officers whereas three children were also present in the car.
The eyewitnesses further said that the children while speaking to them at a nearby petrol station claimed that the “police have killed their parents”.
“Following the firing incident, the police left the children at the petrol station where they spoke to us. A few minutes later, however, CTD officials returned and took the children with them to an undisclosed location,” the eyewitnesses added.
