Sahiwal killings: Home dept admits operation method was wrong

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

Convened by Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, 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 attached departments.Senator Sherry Rehman, the mover of Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2018, was a special invitee.

Minister for Human Rights Dr. Shireen Mazari was also present. The issues taken up included the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2018, Sahiwal incident and death of NAB prisoner Prof. Mian Javed Ahmed in judicial custody.

The enforced disappearance of Saraiki National Party spokesperson was 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 reservation 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 provision 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 remand/custody, Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar stressed the need for visiting all 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 (R) Javed Iqbal, President Missing Persons Commission, be procured and that Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department Punjab 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 SDG goals on education during next four years.

The Senate committee meeting was held here at the Parliament House under chairmanship 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, Quaid-i-Azam University.

The committee was informed by Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mehmood that a total of 376 foreign scholarships for MS/M Phil and PHD had awarded to the students of Balochistan since 2012, 172 for PHD and 204 for M.Phil.

The committee chairperson stressed the need for improving quality of research and its applicability and connection with socio-economic issues of Pakistan especially Baluchistan.

Senator Magsi said that education was 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 the main three 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 the case owing to which the identification parade of suspects was suspended once again.

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.