The state must file an appeal against the acquittal of six personnel of Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) pertaining to the killing of four people, including a woman and her daughter, in the Sahiwal incident earlier this year. The state cannot be absolved if its duty to provide justice to families of the deceased even if their heirs accept the verdict. No matter how strong technical grounds have been presented in the verdict, the fact remains that the four people were killed. If the acquitted people are not the actual shooters, the government should remember its duty to find the actual killers. As per the earlier account of the gruesome incident, Muhammad Khalil with wife Nabeela and four children was traveling in a car, driven by their neighbour Zeeshan, when they were stopped near Sahiwal and Khalil, his wife and daughter and driver Zeeshan were shot point-blank and killed. Three minors, who were left by the shooters, later revealed the detail of the incident to the public through a video footage, shot and shared by a member of the public which triggered a storm of anger and protests across the country. The initial response from the CTD and the government was that the CTD had intelligence-based information that the car had terrorist occupants. It seemed to be a botched operation, and a state apology would have have set the record straight but the ensuing developments made the matter worse. The judge in the verdict alluding to the hostile witnesses said that none of the witness recognised the personnel. “The prosecution has failed to prove the case against the accused… while dispensing justice the court has to see the evidence available on record…,” trial judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta ruled in the verdict. In all 27 private witnesses were presented in the court, and none of them verified the accounts of the killings. The case is a textbook example of turning the tables in court through hostile witnesses. The Chief Justice of Pakistan has, for such reasons, launched a war on fake or hostile witnesses, which are often the result of under the table arrangements.
The families of the deceased say they have accepted the decision. It should be left to some reporter or fact finding commission to dig out the magic behind the petitioners’ will to accept the verdict. If we fail the Sahiwal case, it means the whole society will have blood on their hands. *