Judicial inquiry report into Sahiwal incident finalized

SAHIWAL: A judge tasked with finalizing judicial inquiry into infamous Sahiwal police encounter, in which three of the same family were shot dead by the CTD personnel, has completed its report, ARY News reported Friday.

The report has been forwarded to the sessions’ judge. According to the investigator, the statements of 49 witnesses, suspects, police and counter terrorism department personnel were recorded.

The report will subsequently be sent to registrar of the high court.

The Lahore High Court on Feb 14 ordered to a judicial inquiry into the alleged police encounter in Sahiwal, and sought its report within 30 days.

Read: LHC orders judicial inquiry into Sahiwal killings

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.

Four people, including two women, were killed in a shady encounter involving the Punjab police’s CTD on a highway in the Qadirabad area of Sahiwal district on Jan 19.

Read also: Sahiwal JIT declares Zeeshan a ‘suspicious character’