‘Killers’ themselves probing Sahiwal killings: Imtiaz Alam

LAHORE: Imtiaz Alam, secretary general of the South Asian Free Media Association (Safma), has said the Sahiwal incident could not be ignored and regretted that those who killed four persons there were themselves conducting the case investigation.

He was speaking at a seminar, titled “Extrajudicial killings and disappearances”, organised by Safma here Friday. Imtiaz said that extrajudicial killings were a violation of human rights and a break-up of social contract between the state and its citizens. Lal Khan, a political activist and Marxist political theorist, while addressing the audience, said that justice system had become so expensive in the country that the poor could not approach the Supreme Court of Pakistan if any injustice is committed to them. He said not only Zulfikar Ali Bhutto but countless other people fell to extrajudicial killings in the country so far.

Zaman Khan from Human Rights Commission of Pakistan-AJK, said that Safma is a voice of the voiceless. It always raised voice for the suppressed people, he said while addressing the seminar. Extrajudicial killing is a violation of human rights which should be stopped at every cost. After the Sahiwal tragedy, everyone is scared in the country. State must make accountable the responsible for the incident.

Naqeebullah Mehsood was killed by labelling him a terrorist. Now, the court has decided that he was not a terrorist. It was unfortunate that innocent people were killed in the name of terrorism. Right to live and right of freedom has been snatched. He criticised the government failure to provide protection to its citizens. He said that Law and Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) also broke the law of the country. He said that extrajudicial killings were happening in Balochistan, FATA and Sindh as well.