LHC orders judicial inquiry into Sahiwal killings

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday ordered to a judicial inquiry into the alleged police encounter in Sahiwal, and sought its report within 30 days.

Earlier in January, a shootout of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) personnel had claimed the lives of four people – including three members of a family.

A two member bench headed by Chief Justice Lahore High Court Justice Sardar Muhammad Shamim, took up the case, in which Joint Investigation Team (JIT) head Aijaz Shah, heirs of the victims and their lawyers appeared before it.

As the hearing went underway, Shah presented a progress report on the incident, and informed the court that statements of seven eye-witnesses were recorded.

To this, the bench sought an explanation about the list of witnesses provided by the LHC in the case.

Read more: LHC offers judicial inquiry into Sahiwal incident

The chief justice of LHC remarked that the JIT has not bothered to record statements of the eye witnesses mentioned by the high court, “Is this the way to obey court orders?” he angrily said.

“The way you are working on the case is disappointing,” Justice Sadaqat Ali said to the JIT.

After receiving ‘unsatisfactory’ responses of Aijaz Shah into the probe, Justice Shamim directed the sessions judge in Sahiwal to appoint a magistrate for the inquiry and ensure to submit its report within 30 days.

Later, the hearing of the case was adjourned until February 18.