LAHORE: Punjab government on Friday announced to file an appeal against the court verdict in Sahiwal Tragedy Case.
Provincial Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Social Welfare Raja Basharat said instructions in this regard have been issued to the Advocate General already.
Speaking at a press conference at DGPR office, Raja Basharat said that Chief Minister has also constituted an inquiry commission which would took a detailed review of all those matters due to which victims of Sahiwal Tragedy have faced hurdles.
This commission would identify weaknesses in prosecution, investigation and the process of evidence within a specific period he said, adding the government is concerned on the murder of innocent people in this tragedy.
He expressed surprise that expression of satisfaction of the heirs of victims on the recent decision is a very big question mark. Law Minister said that government got registered FIR according to the will of the heirs and judicial inquiry was conducted.
Similarly, the demand of not conducting trial in Sahiwal was also accepted. However, the heirs could be satisfied of this decision but the government is not satisfied and it will make every effort to bring the responsible persons of this tragic incident to their logical ends.
To a question, he said that government is not responsible for the poor health of Nawaz Sharif nor it showed any negligence in the treatment. He said that not only personal physician of Nawaz Sharif was satisfied about the facilities being provided by the government but government also called special physician from Karachi.
Chief Minister also presented his plane with the offer to call physician of his own choice from any country. He said that Nawaz Sharif had a chronic disease which abruptly reported and now we should pray for his early recovery.
To a question, he said that court has permitted to Maulana Fazal ur Rehman to hold protest march and government has accepted his constitutional freedom. It is hoped that the limits fixed by the court would be followed by the protestors, he added.
Earlier on Friday Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan said that the prime minister directed the Punjab government to file an appeal in the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) against the judgment in Sahiwal killing case.
In a post shared on twitter, Awan said that beside appeal, premier has also ordered the provincial government to investigate the weaknesses and flaws of prosecution in leading the case.
She added the entire nation had watched the video of Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) officers opening fire at the passengers. The government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is committed to ensure justice to the children, who lost their parents in this shooting mishap, she asserted.
The ATC had ordered to acquit six CTD personnel due to lack of evidence. These accused included Safdar Hussain, Ahsan Khan, Ramzan, Saifullah, Husnain and Nasir.
In January 2019, four persons including two women were shot dead in Qadirabad area by the CTD officers who claimed that they killed four ‘terrorists’ over intelligence reports.
Umair and his two sisters Muneeba and Hadia were also present in the car when the incident occurred. Later, they were taken away by police and were handed over to their relatives.
On the other hand, eyewitnesses denied CTD’s statements and said that the people in the car did not fire at officials. “There were no weapons found with the bodies,” they said.
They said that the children traveling in the car claimed that the police had killed their parents. “Following the firing incident, the security personnel left the kids at the petrol station where they spoke to us”. A few minutes later, CTD officials returned and took the children with them to an undisclosed location,” the eyewitnesses added.
Read more: ATC acquits all CTD accused in Sahiwal encounter
Prime Minister and Chief Minister of Punjab Usman Buzdar took notice of the tragic incident after which, Inspector General Amjad Javed Saleemi formed Joint Investigation Team (JIT) comprising Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Military Intelligence (MI) officers that declared law enforcement members responsible for the incident.
Later, the officials involved in the encounter were nabbed on the directions of CM Buzdar and an FIR was lodged on behalf of Khaleel’s brother Jaleel against 16 people under section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997.
(With additional input from INP)
