Sahiwal killings: Punjab home dept admits operation method was wrong

ISLAMABAD: The Punjab Home Department admitted before the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights that the encounter method which resulted into the killing of four people in Sahiwal earlier this month was wrong.

Convened by Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar on Wednesday , the meeting was attended by Senator Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, Senator Dr. Mehr Taj Roghani, Senator Hidayatullah, Senator Muhammad Ali Saif, Senator Sana Jamali, Senator Usman Khan Kakar, Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq and senior officers of the Ministry of Human Rights, Ministry of Interior (MOI), National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Home Department of Punjab and its attached departments.Senator Sherry Rehman, the mover of Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2018, was a special invitee. The Minister for Human Rights, Dr. Shireen Mazari, was also present. The issues taken up in the meeting included the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2018, Sahiwal incident and the death of NAB prisoner Prof. Mian Javed Ahmed in judicial custody. The issue of enforced disappearance of Saraiki National Party spokesperson was also addressed in this meeting as well.

The committee called for abolition of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on Sahiwal incident, saying as per natural law a man could not be a judge in his own case. The forum demanded formation of a judicial commission on Sahiwal killings. Deliberating on the briefing by Inspector General of Police and Home Secretary Punjab on the Sahiwal incident, the committee expressed reservations about the facts presented by the Punjab Home Department. The committee unanimously agreed that the JIT culture must be abolished. The forum wanted to know under what provisions of law was Zeeshan killed and not arrested. As per briefing given by the police and the Punjab Home Department, Zeeshan was under observation for his alleged alliances with Adeel Hafeez, a Daesh terrorist killed in an encounter on 15 January, 2019. To this, the committee asserted that if his whereabouts were known, then why he was not taken into custody earlier.

The committee contended that another reason that the JIT must be rejected was that its TORs had not been clearly defined. It stressed that a judicial commission be formed to look into the tragedy. Discussing the widely-reported and deliberated upon death of Prof. Mian Javed Ahmed in judicial custody, Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar stressed the need for visiting all the detention centres and submission of a report to the committee. He said the application of National Commission of Human Rights to gain access to information about the case must be considered and a response must be sent within a week.

The case of missing persons was also discussed in the light of an application received from the Saraiki National Party leader Abdul Majeed Kanjo about the enforced disappearance of the party’s spokesperson from his house on 7 January, 2019. The committee recommended that a report from Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, President Missing Persons Commission, be obtained and the Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department Punjab must assist to resolve this case at the earliest.

Meanwhile, the Senate Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training lauded the government’s initiatives to launch the National Education Policy Framework aimed at achieving the SDG goals on education during the next four years. The Senate committee meeting was held here at the Parliament House under chairmanship of Senator Rahila Magsi and attended by Senators Najma Hameed, Nouman Wazir Khattak, Prof. Dr. Mehr Taj Roghani, Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, Muhammad Akram, Mushahid Hussain Syed and Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood along with senior officers from the ministry, HEC and the Quaid-i-Azam University.

The committee was informed by the Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mehmood that a total of 376 foreign scholarships for MS, M Phil and PHD were awarded to the students of Balochistan since 2012, 172 for PHD and 204 for M.Phil. The chairperson stressed the need for improving the quality of research and its applicability and connection with the socio-economic issues of Pakistan especially Balochistan. Senator Magsi said education is highly important for the socio-growth and prosperity of the country and efforts must be made to ensure its quality.

Minister Shafqat Mehmood informed the meeting that his ministry was focusing on addressing three main areas, which included enrolling 25 million out-of-school children in the educational institutes, to make uniform education system all over the country and to ensure quality of education.

Sabah adds: Meanwhile, the main complainant in the Sahiwal killings, Jalil Ahmed, Wednesday refused to appear before the JIT probing into the case owing to which the identification parade of suspects was suspended once again. The local magistrate and JIT members reached the jail at 10:00am for the identification parade. However, the witnesses and complainant Jalil, the brother of Khalil Ahmed, refused to appear before the JIT.