The Lahore High Court on Tuesday directed Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab to appear before the court along with record of Sahiwal killings on January 24 in two identical petitions demanding judicial inquiry of the incident. The LHC Chief Justice also advised the petitioners' counsel to file applications with the federal government also for the constitution of the judicial commission.
Earlier, a law officer on a court query stated that under Punjab Tribunals of Inquiry Ordinance 1969, the government had the power to appoint a judicial commission with the consultation of the Chief Justice LHC. However, he pointed out that the federal government was empowered to form a judicial commission. The law officer however told the court that the government had formed a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to reach out the facts of the incident. Safdar Shaheen Pirzada and Mian Asif Mahmood advocate argued on behalf of the petitioners that JIT formed by the government will not be able to find out the truth as it would not go against the personnel of Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) involved in the incident. They asked the court to order for constitution of a judicial commission to hold an impartial inquiry into the incident.
As many as four persons including two parents and their teenaged daughter were killed and three others minors were injured by the CTD personnel during an alleged encounter in Sahiwal.