Govt has fulfilled promise of justice for Sahiwal victims: CM Buzdar

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar said on Wednesday that his government has fulfilled its promise of providing justice to the victims of Sahiwal ‘shootout’ that killed four people – including three members of a family.

In a statement, he said the government has honoured its promise of taking action against the responsible persons within 72 hours of the tragic incident.

The chief minister further said there is no room for transgressors of the law in ‘Naya Pakistan’.

On January 19, four people – including a couple and their teenage daughter – were killed in an alleged encounter in Sahiwal. Counter-Terrorism Department (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.

A Joint Investigation Team formed to probe the Sahiwal killings, in its initial report submitted to the chief minister on Tuesday, mentioned negligence on part of the CTD officials and said there was no link between the Khalil family killed in the incident and terrorism.

Intelligence sources, however, maintained that they found evidence linking Zeeshan, the driver of the vehicle, to terrorists.