LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday will indict six Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) officials-currently under arrest- in Sahiwal killings case.
During the last hearing, the officials were not indicted because of the absence of their lawyers.
On January 19, four people were killed in an alleged shootout in Sahiwal, with the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) personnel claiming they had killed a local commander of militant organisation Daesh and three others in the operation. Eyewitnesses, however, disputed the claim and said the people in the car did not fire at officials, nor were any explosives recovered from the vehicle.
On March 21, the joint investigation team (JIT) probing the Sahiwal police encounter incident submitted its final report, declaring the deceased Khalil and his family members innocent.
According to reports, the JIT report revealed that dozens of messages were found in Zeeshan’s phone establishing his contact with the suspected terrorists.
Additionally, Zeeshan’s brother also confirmed the suspected people’s visits to their house and it had been established that Zeeshan provided sanctuary to them.
“The intelligence report was also about Zeeshan. While Khalil’s family could have been saved, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) officials misused their authority,” the report said.
It was further reported that “all six officials involved in the firing were arrested, while no traces of firing from inside the car were found”.
