The victim families of Sahiwal incident and parliamentarians Tuesday demanded the government to constitute a judicial commission to probe the gory incident on immediate basis wherein four people were killed by personnel of Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD).
The Senate Standing Committee on Interior met here with Senator Rehman Malik in the chair wherein it rejected the constitution of joint investigation team (JIT) by the government of Punjab and demanded the government to constitute a judicial commission. The committee recorded the statements of mother of Zeeshan Javed, the car driver, and Jalil, brother of Muhammad Khalil.
The committee also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan to constitute a judicial commission to investigate the incident. Mother of deceased Zeeshan Javed told the committee that his son was innocent and was not a terrorist. "If Zeeshan was a terrorist as was declared by the CTD, why he was not arrested alive," she questioned, adding, "If Indian terrorist Kulbhushan Jadhav can be arrested alive then why not Zeeshan?"
"My son, who was sole breadwinner of our family, received 10 bullets," she said with tears rolling down her cheeks. "They killed my son and then labelled him a terrorist," she lamented. "Now the people will call me mother of a terrorist and Zeeshan's daughter will be termed as daughter of a terrorist. For God's sake we need nothing but remove this label of terrorism from us," she said.
She said her family had been living in the same house for the past 35 years. She told the panel that Zeeshan had studied computer sciences. Her son was doing wholesale business of computers, teaching in a school and used to give lectures in a college as well, she said. She criticised the ministers for calling her son Zeeshan a terrorist during a press conference.
Jalil, brother of deceased Khalil, during the meeting also demanded constitution of a judicial commission to probe the matter and rejected the JIT. He also demanded shifting of the case to Lahore, as the name of senior superintendent of police (SSP) CTD is included in the FIR, saying that exemplary punishment should be given to the officials involved in this brutal incident.
He said the FIR of the incident was registered after "we protested on road for 12 hours along with the dead bodies." Police completely cleaned the crime scene soon after the incident and the weapons used by the CTD personnel have not been recovered so far, he said, adding the JIT did not provide initial investigation report to the victim families.
Senator Javed Abbasi of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Senator Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Azam Swati exchanged harsh words when the former accused the provincial minister of making a wrong statement about the Sahiwal incident.
Abbasi said that four people including women were not shot dead by terrorists but they were brutally killed by police personnel. "The CTD had repeatedly changed its statements about the incident and a fifth statement was made by a provincial minister."
About the JIT, he said how it is possible to make the killers judge. "Despite recommendations of the committee, the JIT is still working. The JIT should immediately be stopped from working and a judicial commission be constituted," he added.
Swati said Abbasi had made an irresponsible statement about the incident. "It had been agreed that this incident will not be politicised." "The Prime Minister said that swift action will be taken against those found responsible in that regard. There would be no cover-up," he said, adding, "We will welcome the formation of judicial commission."
The committee members collectively demanded the government to form a judicial commission. The panel also directed the interior secretary to investigate the changing statements regarding the incident.
Malik directed the secretary interior to completely fulfil the demands of the victim families. He assured the victim families that justice will be done with them and said they will not allow anyone to pressurise them. He termed the incident a targeted killing, adding he will refer those as martyrs who were killed.
Later, talking to media persons after the meeting, Malik said he had written a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan, who also holds the portfolio of interior minister, for forming a judicial commission to investigate the Sahiwal killings. He said the interior minister had the authority to form such a commission.
He said the court would not stop the federal government from forming a judicial commission as the victim families had demanded the same. "If the government does not make the judicial commission, they will raise the matter in the House," he added.
Malik also commended the chief minister of Punjab for taking immediate action and arresting the officials involved in the killings. He clarified that the panel had not summoned the families of the deceased earlier.
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