Detained Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) officials in the Sahiwal case on Thursday denied firing shots at Khalil and members of his family who were travelling in a car driven by alleged terrorist Zeeshan.
In their statement to the joint investigation team (JIT) probing the incident, the CTD personnel revealed that neither did they open fire at the Sahiwal family nor did anyone give them directives to do so. Responding to a question about how the passengers were killed then, the policemen said they were shot dead by their associates travelling on a motorcycle. “We retaliated by opening fire at the terrorists,” the CTD officials claimed.
Meanwhile, Khalil’s brother, Jalil, refused to appear before the JIT for the identification parade of CTD officials. The identification parade was put off for the third time after the main complainant in the case didn’t turn up. The JIT will now inform the relevant judicial magistrate in this regard.
On Wednesday, Jalil had appeared before the JIT but refused to be part of the identification parade. Accusing the JIT of destroying evidence in the case, Jalil had said, “How can the identification parade be conducted until all the accused are not arrested.” He also said the police and JIT knew who the killers were. “The JIT is troubling eyewitnesses and destroying evidences in the case,” he claimed, while demanding that the case be transferred to Lahore.
Khalil, a resident of Lahore, his wife Nabeela and teenage daughter Areeba were killed in a shady encounter involving the CTD of Punjab Police on a highway in Qadirabad area of Sahiwal district earlier this month.
Published in Daily Times, February 1st 2019.
