New footage regarding the deaths of four people in an alleged “encounter” by Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on GT Road near Sahiwal on Saturday in making rounds on social media.
Police officers can be seen surrounding the vehicle and pointing their weapons while the police mobile vehicle is stopped at some distance.
The video details children being taken out of the vehicle to the police mobile van. The police then open fire at the vehicle, causing four people to die in the incident.
Video shows #SahiwalMassacre victims were killed in cold blood by CTD #justiceforsahiwalvictims pic.twitter.com/CzGQaelv3D
— Murtaza Ali Shah (@MurtazaViews) January 19, 2019
The incident triggered a national outcry that prompted the government to take the security officials into custody and order an investigation into the incident.
The counter-terrorism officials claimed that the operation was conducted to capture an “Islamic State (IS) commander” on a tip off by an intelligence agency.
An injured child Umair Khalil, who was present in the vehicle at the time of the incident, told reporters that he was travelling to Burewala for his uncle’s wedding with his father (Khaleel), mother (Nabeela), elder sister (Areeba), father’s friend (Zeeshan) and two younger sisters when their vehicle was stopped by police officials.
“My father begged the policemen to take money and let us leave but they opened fire without any reason,” the boy claimed, adding that his father, mother, elder sister and father’s friend were killed in the firing and kept back in the vehicle. “The police left us [Umair, younger sisters] at a petrol pump and we were later taken to a hospital,” he added.