Sahiwal shootout: Senate panel rejects JIT, demands judicial probe

ISLAMABAD: The Senate’s Standing Committee on Interior demanded on Tuesday a judicial inquiry into the Sahiwal encounter, ARY News reported.

Relatives of the victims, including the deceased, Khalil’s brother and the alleged killed terrorist, Zeeshan’s mother, appeared before the parliamentary panel chaired by Senator Abdul Rehman Malik to record their statement.

The committee categorically rejected the joint investigation team (JIT) formed by the incumbent government to probe into the incident.“Why is the government not appointing a judicial commission if it is within its power?”

Zeeshan’s mother informed the committee that her son was not a terrorist. “Why wasn’t Zeeshan apprehended alive? If an Indian terrorist can be arrested alive then why not Zeeshan?”

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senator Javed Abbasi and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senator Azam Sawati exchanged heated words during the meeting when the former referred to latter’s controversial statement over the incident.

Abbasi said he didn’t accept the probe by the police as they were involved in the case. “The inquiry committee will try to save the police personnel.”

Speaking to the media before leaving for Islamabad earlier today, Khalil’s brother Jalil, said the statement by their lawyer regarding threats was in his personal capacity.

He opined that it would have been better if a judicial commission was formed instead of the joint investigation team (JIT). “We are not satisfied with the JIT probe.”

Khalil, a resident of Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat, along with his wife Nabeela and teenage daughter Areeba were killed in a shady encounter involving the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Punjab Police on a highway in the Qadirabad area of Sahiwal district last week.