PHOTO: FILE
LAHORE: A special bench of an anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday acquitted six officials of the Punjab Police’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), who were accused in the brutal murder of four people, including a woman and a minor, in Sahiwal.
Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta gave the police officials the benefit of doubt. The verdict was delivered after recording statements from 49 witnesses, including the brother of one of the victims. The accused named Safdar Hussain, Ahsan Khan, Ramzan, Saifullah, Hasnain and Nasir Nawaz had shot dead a couple, Khalil and Nabeela, their daughter, Areeba, and another man named Zeeshan on January 19 this year.
Khalil, his wife and their four children were travelling with Zeeshan when the CTD personnel stopped their car near Sahiwal Toll Plaza on GT Road and opened fire, later claiming that they were targeting suspected terrorists.
Sahiwal tragedy: Victims' family members refuse to identify suspects
Khalil and Nabeela’s other three minor children – Umair, Muniba and Jaziba – were also recovered from the “trunk of the car”. The children, who were shifted to the DHQ hospital, contradicted the CTD version, saying the fatalities included their parents, elder sister and a family friend named Zeeshan, and that they were travelling from Lahore to Burewala to attend a wedding.
“My papa pleaded before the police that there was no weapon in the car and that the police could search the vehicle,” one of the children, Muhammad Umar Khalil, said. “They didn’t listen to my papa and opened fire.” TV channels reported Umar as saying: “My papa told the police officials to take their money and let them go, but they [police officials] did not listen and opened fire.”
The CTD claimed to have recovered “suicide jackets, hand grenades and a rifle from the scene”.
Eyewitnesses, however, endorsed the children’s version, saying that the CTD officials opened fire on the car without giving any kind of warning. They added that no weapons or explosives were recovered from them.
CTD officials initially said the four victims were killed by the “firing of their own accomplices”. They said the operation was a follow-up of a previous raid and that they were tracing two wanted terrorists of Da’ish, Shahid Jabbar and Abdur Rehman, who were listed in the ‘Red Book’. While the CTD dubbed it an ‘encounter’, the victims’ family said that they were going to attend a wedding. The family’s claim proved true as it later transpired that except for Zeeshan, all other occupants of the car were innocent.
Sahiwal killings: ATC acquits all accused CTD personnel
A joint investigation team formed to probe into the incident confirmed that the family was innocent and that the CTD officials were responsible for their killing.
Subsequently, the Punjab government removed some top CTD officials and suspended others, while announcing that six CTD officials responsible for the killings would be tried on terrorism and murder charges. The CTD has repeatedly been accused of pressuring the victims’ family to drop the case.
At a press conference, the family’s lawyer Shahbaz Bukhari presented a seven-minute recorded call wherein a CTD official threatened his life.
Due to apprehensions expressed by the victims’ family over the JIT, the Lahore High Court ordered a judicial inquiry.
Initially, the trial was conducted in Sahiwal but the Lahore High Court ordered the transfer of the case from Sahiwal to Lahore while allowing a petition filed by Jalil, brother of Khalil. The petitioner contended that they had been facing problems while attending trial proceedings in Sahiwal.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 25th, 2019.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ