CCPO, DIG and SP ordered Nishtar Colony encounter, claim constables

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday sought reply until July 11 from the Punjab government on a petition filed by two constables involved in a fake police encounter at Nishtar Colony, seeking court’s directions for fresh investigation into the case by including names of police high-ups who had passed ‘directions’ for staging the encounter.
The order was passed by LHC Chief Justice (CJ) Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry on a petition filed by accused constables Asif and Abdul Qadir submitting that they are innocent, as being subordinate officials they killed Shahbaz Butt on orders of the Saddar superintendent of police (SP) while the SP got orders from the capital city police officer (CCPO) and the deputy inspector general (DIG) (Operations).
The accused constables, who are in jail, pleaded through their counsel Aftab Bajwa that the SHO and investigation officer (IO), despite having direct involvement in the encounter, had been “saved” and they, despite being mere “tools”, had been “trapped” in the case. The counsel for the accused pleaded that 235 empty bullet shells were recovered from the site of the encounter where 22-year old Shahbaz Butt was killed by police on June 11 in Nishtar Colony which speaks volumes about the truth.
The counsel argued that such a huge rounds of firing could not be carried out by two constables if they had acted on their own, without orders from police high-ups, therefore, it is evident that the encounter was staged on directions of police high-ups.
Bajwa said now that challan of the case has been submitted in the trail court, his clients have no hope of justice because real culprits who gave directions and the SHO who supervised the shootout were not even included in the list of the accused. He said that the SHO was a close relative of the additional inspector general, due to which he was safe.
He requested the court to order fresh investigation into the case by including names of police high-ups, including the SHO and SP Saddar, in the larger interest of justice and fair-play.
The LHC CJ observed that the court has to see whether or not the law of the land permitted new investigation after the challan had been submitted in the trial court.
He directed Punjab Additional Advocate General (AAG) Hanif Khatana to take reply from the Punjab government and the prosecution department on the matter until July 11. On June 12, the LHC CJ had taken suo motu notice of the killing of Shahbaz. Afterwards, the suo motu was disposed of when the court was told that the accused constables had been arrested and the challan against them had been submitted in the trial court.
Khatana had said that four accused had been arrested, challan had been presented in the trial court and the accused were declared guilty in the challan. At that time, Bajwa had requested the court to change the investigation officer and include the name of the SHO in the case but the CJ had rejected his plea saying that he should file a new petition, as suo motu notice could not be converted into a petition of the accused constables.
Police had gunned down Shahbaz a few hours after local residents had captured him on suspicion of an armed robbery and handed him over to police for interrogation.