No objection on formation of judicial commission in Sahiwal incident: Raja Basharat

ISLAMABAD: Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat on Monday said the government had no objection on formation of judicial commission to investigate Sahiwal police encounter incident so that truth shall prevail, ARY News reported.

Responding to the demand of the opposition parties in the Punjab Assembly, Raja Basharat said, “Unlike the past traditions, we will bring the culprits to justice”.

He said the opposition should be ashamed on creating ruckus as such incidents had happened in the past as well.

The provincial law minister said the joint investigation team (JIT) will submit its report on Sahiwal on Tuesday. “The JIT report will come out tomorrow at 5:00 pm and we are ready for debate on it then,” he said.

He said the opposition must gather courage to hear the truth.

https://arynews.tv/en/ctd-sahiwal-operation-raja-basharat/

On the other hand, while making demand for constitution of judicial commission, Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz said the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) was formed to stop terrorism.

“However, the Sahiwal incident has given the message that those who are responsible to provide security have themselves become murderers,” he said adding that the JIT report would establish the truth.

Hamza Shehbaz said he did not want to play politics on the rueful incident, but when such incidents happened in the past demands for resignations were made.

It is pertinent to mention here that at least four people including two women were killed and a child was injured during an alleged police encounter by Sahiwal police on Saturday.

CTD’s version of events

The CTD officials relayed that a car was signaled to stop along with a bike near Sahiwal Toll Plaza but the alleged terrorists resorted to firing, adding that three terrorists were able to flee away. “This incident was a continuity of the Jan 16 operation carried out in Faisalabad.”

Eyewitnesses’ version of incident

Eyewitnesses relayed that police officers began firing at a car from behind, adding that no weapons were recovered from the car nor did anyone from the car got engaged in retaliatory firing.

The eyewitness said one deceased woman aged around 40, whereas the injured child was around 13 years old.