Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari informed the National Assembly on Tuesday that first information report (FIR) under Anti-Terrorism Act has been registered against as many as 16 officials of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) involved in brutal killing of four persons in Sahiwal.
While speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, the minister said that 10 out of 16 officials of CTD were in uniform. She said that the FIR has been registered under the section 302 of Anti-Terrorism Act against the CTD officials.
The members of the National Assembly continued debate on the second day on the Sahiwal incident. The opposition members urged the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government to present the report of joint investigation team (JIT) in the House for discussion.
Maulana Abdul Wasay of Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam (Fazl) while speaking on the incident said that there is a need to change the law (Production of Pakistan Act 2014) which is passed by this Parliament. He said that this law permits security forces to shoot suspects on sight with the permission of a grade-15 official.
He said that his party had opposed this law when it was presented in the Parliament for passage. He said, "Unless we change this law, such incident would continue. We should resolve this issue permanently to stop such incidents in future."
The members of the House, particularly from opposition, also emphasised to constitute a parliamentary committee to investigate the incident and discuss the report of JIT. Former Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah said that a parliamentary committee should be formed to investigate the incident. "I also demand to present the report of JIT in the House and the committee should also discuss the report," he said.
He said, "The government claims that the killed persons were terrorists then why it has announced Rs 20 million financial compensation for their family. Should the terrorists be given money?"
Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf said strict action should be taken against those responsible for the incident. "Suppose they were terrorists even then they should not be killed if they were not resisting," he said.
Taking part in the debate, Rai Murtaza Iqbal said provision of security is the sole responsibility of the state and this case should be tried either in military courts or sent for summary trial to be decided within three months.
Shehnaz Baloch said better training should be given to the law enforcement agencies to prevent such kinds of incidents in future. Saif-ur-Rehman said independent probe should be carried out into the matter to fix responsibility.
Nawaz Yousaf Talpurs said that a parliamentary committee should be constituted and the report of JIT should be presented in the House. Riaz-ul-Haq, Abdul Shakoor, Fozia Bharam, Sabir Hussain Qaimkhani and others also spook on the incident.
Meanwhile, journalists also staged a token walkout from the Press Gallery of the National Assembly in protest against the downsizing in various media groups. Federal Minister for Communication Murad Saeed and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan met with the journalists and gave them assurance of job security.
Responding to a token walkout of journalists from Parliament's Press Gallery, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan on the floor of the House said that the government will protect rights of the working journalists.
The minister assured media persons that issues being faced by them will be sorted out and Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain will meet them. The minister of state said that he met working journalists and got information regarding their issues. He said some journalists are being deprived of their jobs, while some of them have not been paid their salaries for the last six months.
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