More than two weeks after the January 19 incident, Prime Minister Imran Khan during his visit to Lahore last Sunday reportedly “directed the chief minister in a one-on-one meeting to ensure speedy justice to the grieving family.” Justice, it is said, must not only be done, it should also be seen to have been done. From the shifting official versions of the incident, the painfully slow investigations by the officially constituted Joint Investigation Team (JIT) and resolutely rejecting demands for a judicial probe, it appears that justice might even get lost. Some facts speak for themselves.
One, after meeting Prime Minister Imran Khan at his Bani Gala residence in Islamabad last week, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar ruled out the formation of a judicial commission to probe the encounter. The opposition in the Parliament, the Senate committees on interior as well as human rights and the families of those killed had persistently expressed lack of trust in the JIT, demanding a judicial probe but their calls have been ignored.
Two, the identification parade of the six Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) officials was postponed on the grounds that none of the family members of the deceased Muhammad Khalil or other witnesses showed up to identify the suspects. Surprisingly, there was no word about the video clips of the operation which went viral soon after the incident and are admissible as evidence by law.
Three, families of the victims were officially invited and escorted to Islamabad for meeting with the president and the Senate chairman. However, upon arrival in Islamabad and shuttling for several hours between the Presidency and the Senate, they were told that there would be no meeting. No explanation was offered as to why a planned call had been called off.
Four, the Punjab additional chief secretary, appearing before the Senate Committee on Human Rights last week, said the video statements of the child who said that his father had offered money to the CTD officials but they killed him nevertheless, was incorrect. He also claimed that the driver Zeeshan opened fire at the CTD officials, but offered no explanation as to how he arrived at these conclusions even before any investigations had been completed.
Linking Zeeshan with terrorists, the official said that two calls from Afghanistan had been tracked which established that Zeeshan was an IS operative. A member of the committee was surprised over this disclosure because the same PTA had claimed in a previous meeting of the Senate Interior Committee that phone calls from Afghanistan had been blocked by it. The senior Punjab government official also claimed that at least one terrorist was killed every week and if facts were shared with the Parliamentarians, they would not be able to sleep.
Five, the post mortem report has revealed that all of the victims were shot multiple times from a very close range and each also shot in the head, making it look like premeditated and deliberate killing.
Six, in the earliest press conferences, the Punjab law minister said that the CTD had acted on the lead provided by an intelligence agency (ISI). He reiterated this in subsequent press conferences also. Later, replying to a question whether the ISI will also be held accountable, the minister said “don’t involve state institutions. The Punjab government can’t trespass its jurisdiction.”
While it would be unfair to hold either the provincial or federal governments directly responsible for the Sahiwal incident, both seem responsible for defending CTD’s lies, for not probing the intelligence agency involved, for diverting the thrust of investigations and for not carrying out an audit of encounter killings. Over 3,300 people, including minors, have been reportedly killed in ‘encounters’ in 2014-18 and the Punjab government’s statement that one terrorist a week is eliminated calls for an audit of encounter killings.
The JIT appointed by the government seems reluctant to collect and submit evidence for forensic analysis. According to reports, blood stained clothes of the victims and the weapons used by CTD officials have not been provided for forensic tests. The National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR) which also took suo moto notice of the incident has said that instead of visiting the witnesses, the JIT was summoning them which resulted in delaying investigations.
In yet another twist, as the JIT failed to make any headway, the six CTD officials have reportedly denied opening fire on the hapless victims. They reportedly told the JIT that Muhammad Khalil, members of his family and his friend Zeeshan were killed in the firing of two motorcyclists who were moving close to the car even though the footage captured shows that the officials fired repeatedly from close range at the vehicle.
As the prime minister calls for speedy justice, a carefully worded official narrative already seems to have been built. According to this narrative, the slain driver of the car Zeeshan was a terrorist with links to Daesh. That the terror alert about Zeeshan was intelligence-based and correct. That the fault lay with the manner in which the CTD personnel engaged themselves in the encounter, according to this narrative. There is not a word about the intelligence agency which issued the threat alert and on the basis of which the CTD acted in haste and most unprofessionally.
What exactly did the Punjab law minister mean when he said “don’t involve state institutions. The Punjab government can’t trespass its jurisdiction” in response to questions about the role of the intelligence agency? Answers to this and many other questions will not be credibly provided by a JIT formed by the executive; these are more likely to be provided by a publicly-held judicial probe.
The writer is a former senator