Senate panel seeks judicial probe into Sahiwal killings

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Interior on Tuesday called for a judicial probe into an alleged encounter that killed four people in Sahiwal on January 19.A grocery store owner, his wife, and teenage daughter were killed when a team of Counter Terrorism Department opened fire on a car in Sahiwal. The car driver was also killed. Investigators say that the driver was a member of IS terror cell, a claim family has rejected as baseless. Relatives of those killed appeared before the Senate Standing Committee on Interior and presented their stance. The committee rejected the joint investigation team’s findings and demanded a judicial commission be formed. Committee Chairman Rehman Malik said the committee had taken notice of the killings six hours after the incident. Senator Javed Abbasi, who was also part of the panel, said the police were involved in the entire matter. “No terrorist killed them. We do not accept any investigation from the police. How is it possible that the ones who committed the killings are the ones investigating the murder?”The senator further urged that the investigation should be taken back from the police. “If the committee and Senate have rejected the JIT, then in what capacity is the JIT working?”PTI’s Azam Swati defended the government’s handling of the fiasco, saying it (PTI government) cannot be blamed for the incident.