ISLAMABAD — The National Assembly on Tuesday continued debate on the Sahiwal incident as the lawmakers condemned the murder of innocent citizens and demanded a fair investigation into the tragedy.
Taking part in the debate following the motion under rule 259 moved by Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari during the previous sitting, PTI lawmaker Rai Muhammad Murtaza Iqbal said that expectations of the public from PTI were high and utmost efforts should be made to come up to them.
He said that failure should be admitted in protecting the lives of the people in Sahiwal incident and a formal apology should be sought from responsible officials.
He said that a special bench of judges should be constituted to take up this case to avert the state becoming mere security state.
PML-N MNA Ch. Muhammad Ashraf said that the members of the House had taken oath on the Constitution whose first provision was to protect the life of the people and all had to defend the Constitution.
After the Sahiwal incident, everybody started feeling that no one is safe in the country, he added.
He opposed the investigation into the incident by JIT team which had to report about those involved in the brutal killing. He said that matter should be referred to the court which would ensure transparent investigation.
PPPP legislator Khursheed Shah said that Sahiwal shootout was a purely humanitarian issue rather than a point scoring matter. It was the first time in history that both the opposition and the government had the same opinion over the incident, he added.
He questioned as how children belonging to the age group of five, seven, ten and 13 were terrorists. He mourned the death of family members shot dead by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) team in Sahiwal.
He criticized the Punjab government which first declared the car occupants as terrorists and later announced compensation amount for them. “Had it ever happened that a terrorist was paid Rs 25 million and the provincial government announced to bear the education expenses of the children of the deceased family,” he questioned. Shah proposed that a Parliamentary Committee should be formed to identify the responsible for this tragedy.
MNA Prof. Dr Shehnaz Baloch belonging to BNP said, “All of us should have to realize our own responsibilities in the prevailing scenario instead of criticizing the state and the departments.” The Sahiwal issue, she said, had put the question mark on the performance of CTD.
PTI MNA Saif ur Rehman said an independent inquiry of the Sahiwal shootout should be carried out and its findings should be made public.
“If we look deep into the history then there are specific brutalities inflicted upon the innocent masses through people like Rao Anwar who alone killed 444 people and conducted 117 police encounters,” he alleged.
He said that the report presented in the Sindh High Court revealed that 168 Sindh police officers were allegedly found involved in criminal activities.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/jit-holds-ctd-responsible-on-sahiwal-encounter/
He went on to say that Rao Anwar made 74 foreign visits during the outgoing year which was not possible to manage in the salary of a Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP).
The House would have to constitute a committee to probe assets of Rao Anwar and encounters carried out by him in Sindh, he added.
Saif ur Rehman said that the bigwigs behind people like Rao Anwar should be brought under the law.
He said there were incidents in Sindh in which people were kept in illegal detention without any reason which was deplorable and such practices should be abolished from the system.
