Sahiwal: Three children watch father, mother, sister getting killed

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) officials shot dead four persons, including a couple, their 13-year-old daughter and a friend of the family in the presence of three children on Saturday.

The incident took place near the Sahiwal toll plaza, where members of the CTD killed the car riders in cold blood, accusing them of being terrorists, on Saturday afternoon. The deceased were identified as Khalil, his wife Nabeela, daughter Areeba and Khalil’s friend.

Mystery shrouded the shooting incident, as the CTD officials kept changing their statements after the killings; first declaring them child kidnappers, and then dubbing them as terrorists.

The CTD claimed that the car riders had opened fire on the raiding party, which had tried to intercept the vehicle as well as a motorcycle on the main road. The family in the car also included three children, two sisters and a brother, and the surviving boy also sustained minor injuries. The injured child, Khalil’s son Umair Khalil, told the media persons that his parents, sister and a friend of his father were killed in police firing. He said the incident took place when they were on their way to attend the wedding ceremony of his uncle Rizwan in Burewala. He said they were travelling from Tariqabad (Kot Lakhpat) area of Lahore, to Burewala (Sahiwal) when the police opened fire on their vehicle.

He said his father had asked the law-enforcers to check their vehicle and told them that there were no weapons. However, the police did not pay any heed and opened fire, killing his parents on-the-spot.

Eyewitnesses contradicted the CTD statements and said the car-riding family did not open fire at the officials. "No weapons were found with the bodies," they said. The eyewitnesses said the children told them at a nearby petrol station that the “police killed their parents”.

Following the firing incident, the CTD officials first abandoned the children at a petrol station. However, later on, they came back and took them to some undisclosed location, and then to an area hospital.

A CTD spokesman said the operation was conducted as follow-up of an action carried out in Faisalabad on Jan 16.

"The car was coming from Lahore and the women killed were 40 and 13 years old, respectively.”

The CTD also claimed that there were three other suspected terrorists on-the-spot, who managed to escape. “They were identified as Shahid Jabbar, Abdul Rehman and their accomplice," the CTD spokesperson added.

Earlier, the CTD officials claimed that the four people were kidnappers, but later on dubbed them as terrorists.

The CTD identified one of the deceased as Zeeshan. The department said that he was wanted for several crimes, including the abduction of Ali Haider Gilani, son of former premier Yusuf Raza Gilani, and several American nationals. The CTD also claimed that he was the deputy chief of a banned outfit.

Reportedly, the children were in an area hospital at the time of filing of the report, which had been cordoned off completely, and no one was being allowed to enter the emergency department. Ironically, the crime scene was not preserved, neither by the CTD nor by the area police.

Taking notice of the incident, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday contacted Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar and sought a report on the incident. He ordered for conducting a transparent and detailed inquiry into the incident.

Also, on the order of the Punjab chief minister, the CTD officials, who took part in the action, have been arrested.

Inspector General of Police Punjab Amjad Javed Salimi has also constituted a four-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the incident. Additional IG Establishment Punjab will be the head of the team, and one each representative from the ISI and the IB would be part of the JIT. The team will submit its report within three days.

Meanwhile, Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said on Saturday Prime Minister Imran Khan contacted Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar and asked him to immediately reach Sahiwal and called for bringing facts to the fore.

In a video clip, the minister noted that the Counter-Terrorism Department had claimed that terrorists had been gunned down in the incident, whereas the media reports and interviews of the children of the victims, were telling something else.

He said action would be taken against the CTD raiding party members and they would be made an example if found to be guilty of any wrong-doing.

“And, if CTD’s version is found correct and they (deceased) were terrorists, then that would also be shared with the nation. On both ways, details would be shared with people,” the minister added. He noted that when the incident happened, the chief minister was away from Lahore and the PM contacted him and directed him to immediately reach Sahiwal. Later in the evening, the chief minister reached Sahiwal from Mianwali and visited the children at the DHQ Hospital.

Meanwhile, the inspector general of police (IGP), Punjab, took notice of the incident. He sought an inquiry report on the incident from the Sahiwal RPO and the Punjab CTD. The CTD submitted its initial report regarding the incident to the IGP. According to the report, the CTD team did a joint intelligence-based operation in which four terrorists related with the defunct organisation Daesh were killed, whereas, weapons and explosive material was seized from their possession.

The report said the CTD team tried to intercept terrorists, who were riding a car and a motorcycle near the Sahiwal toll plaza, but they opened fire on the CTD team, and a shootout ensued. When the firing stopped, four persons, including two women, were found dead by firing of their accomplices. Three terrorists fled the scene.

The CTD said that the operation was in continuation of the operation conducted in Faisalabad on January 16. The CTD was tracking the remaining terrorists of Red Book namely Shahid Jabbar and Abdul Rehman. According to the CTD, this is the Daesh Network which killed three ISI officers in Multan, one police officer in Faisalabad and kidnapped American national Warren Weinstein and Ali Haider Gilani, son of former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani. The network had also killed dozens of people in blasts and firing. It was the most dangerous network of Daesh in Punjab.

Meanwhile, family members, relatives, friends and locals staged a demonstration in Lahore on Saturday and blocked the main Ferozpur Road against the killings.

The protesters burnt tyres in protest and chanted slogans against the Punjab Police and the CTD and demanded immediate action against the culprits. A terrible traffic mess was witnessed on the Ferozpur Road Chungi Amar Sidhu as thousands of motorists remained stuck almost for hours. However, the protesters dispersed after getting assurance that a police officer would accompany the family to Sahiwal so that bodies could be handed over to the heirs without any trouble.