SC directs Punjab govt to submit report on Sahiwal incident

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) Wednesday directed the Punjab government to submit a detailed report on Sahiwal incident.

On January 19, 2019, a couple, their teenage daughter and their neighbour were killed in an alleged encounter by the Punjab Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) at GT road near Sahiwal, while in October 2019, a special bench of an anti-terrorism court (ATC) acquitted six officials of the Punjab Police's CTD who were accused of the killing of four people.

A two-member SC bench, comprising Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Yahya Afridi, directed the provincial government to submit report while hearing a bail plea of Hafiz Muhammad Usman, a police officer accused of shooting a civilian in the Sahiwal tragedy.

During the course of proceedings, Justice Qazi Faez Isa asked Additional Prosecutor General Abid Majeed Mirza to inform the court about the Sahiwal incident. He said that innocent people were killed in Sahiwal after only one phone call was made. He remarked that he did not understand what the Punjab government and police were doing.

He asked what the Punjab government did in the Sahiwal tragedy. The Punjab additional prosecutor general prayed that he believed the case was pending in the high court. On this, the apex court directed the additional prosecutor general to take information regarding the case and submit a reply. The court also granted bail to one of the accused police officials.