Sahiwal incident: CTD officials to be presented in ATC today

SAHIWAL: The six Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) officials involved in Sahiwal incident will likely be presented before an anti-terrorism court (ATC) upon completion of their seven-day remand today, ARY News reported.

Duty Magistrate Iqra Rehman had granted seven-day remand of the accused for the purpose of their identification parade. However, the identification process couldn’t be completed as the Sahiwal victims’ heirs declined to become part of it.

The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) repeatedly summoned Muhammad Jalil, brother of Khalil who was killed along with his wife and a teenage daughter in the shootout, but he didn’t turn up and demanded the constitution of a judicial commission to probe the incident.

Earlier, on Jan 31, Jalil filed a petition in the LHC challenging the formation of a Joint Investigation Team.

Arguing that the JIT formed by the government was not capable of reaching a fair decision, the petition pleaded to the court to issue an order for the constitution of a judicial commission under section 3 of Punjab Tribunals of Inquiry Ordinance 1969 or under section 3 of Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Act 2017.

He had stated that a false First Information Report (FIR) had been registered to label the victims of the incident as terrorists. However, another FIR was lodged against Counter Terrorism Department personnel after a protest by citizens against the gory incident. “Facts had been distorted to benefit the real culprits in the second FIR as well.”