JIT submits initial Sahiwal killings report to Punjab CM

LAHORE: The Joint Investigation (JIT) team formed to probe the Sahiwal killings submitted its initial report to Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Tuesday.

The initial report was submitted after the JIT’s head, Punjab Police Additional Inspector General Syed Ijaz Hussain Shah said it was not possible to submit a final report of the incident by 5pm on Tuesday.

Chief Minister Buzdar had given the JIT till 5pm to submit its final report.

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Sahiwal killings: Final report cannot be submitted today, says JIT head

Initial JIT report has been submitted to the Punjab chief minister

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A meeting chaired by the chief minister is reviewing the initial report. The meeting is also being attended by senior minister Aleem Khan, Punjab Law Minister, Chief Secretary, JIT members and officials from agencies.

Sources informed Geo News that the initial report only consists of a few points and states negligence on part of Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) officials. The report adds that there was no link between the Khalil family and terrorism. 

Geo News has also learnt that officials from the Forensic Science Agency have complained of not receiving all the bullets fired from the SMG and recovered after the post mortem.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari on the floor of the National Assembly said as many as 16 CTD officials were booked for the Sahiwal shootout. The First Information Report (FIR) includes terror and murder charges.

On Saturday, four people – including three members of a family – were killed in an alleged encounter in Sahiwal. CTD personnel said 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.

The dead included a man, his wife and their teenage daughter, as well as the driver of the car who, according to the CTD, was involved in terrorist acts.

The CTD has, however, changed its statement on the incident multiple times.