Imran promises swift action in Sahiwal police shooting
islamabad — Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday said that the children who lost their parents in a shooting incident in Sahiwal on Saturday would be fully looked after by the state as its responsibility.
A middle-aged couple, their 13-year-old daughter and another man were gunned down by the Counter Terrorism Department police on the G.T. Road in the Qadirabad area of Sahiwal in what they initially claimed was a shootout with insurgents.
“Still shocked at seeing the traumatised children who saw their parents shot before their eyes. Any parent would be shocked as they would think of their own children in such a traumatic situation,” the prime minister tweeted.
He said while the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) had done a great job in the fight against terrorism, everyone must be accountable before the law. As soon as a Joint Investigation Team report comes, swift action will be taken. The government’s priority was protection of all its citizens, the prime minister remarked.
The police killed grocery store owner Mohammed Khalil, his wife Nabeela, their daughter Areeba
and a family friend, Zeeshan Javed, after stopping their vehicle late on Saturday. Police said Javed was a wanted terrorist and initially accused him of using the others as human shields.
Family members and witnesses say police killed the four in cold blood. They say police rear-ended the vehicle to stop it after a car chase. The police then removed three small children from the vehicle before opening fire, killing everyone inside, according to the witnesses. Video footage shot by a bystander and aired by local media appears to support the witnesses’ accounts. No
Still shocked at seeing the traumatised children who saw their parents shot before their eyes. Any parent would be shocked as they would think of their own children in such a traumatic situation imran Khan
@ImranKhanPTI
weapons were found at the scene.
The shooting sparked widespread outrage, with hundreds of mourners gathering in the eastern city of Lahore, where the victims of the shooting lived, and chanting against the police. Area residents left the bodies in the road as a form of protest following Saturday’s shooting, which took place in the nearby town of Sahiwal.
Authorities say they have launched an investigation and arrested 16 officers involved in the shooting. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar met with the family and promised that justice would be served.
A Punjab minister announced that the Punjab government will bear the expenses for the education of the surviving children “till whatever stage they want to study”, noting that financial support cannot be a replacement for such a huge loss.
Pakistan’s security forces have been accused of extrajudicial killings in the past. In one of the most notorious incidents, a police officer was accused of killing a 27-yearold aspiring fashion model from a Pashtun tribe last January, sparking protests. The officer was suspended and placed under house arrest pending trial. — APP, AP