Petitioner asked to justify one-year delay

LAHORE - A division bench of the Lahore High Court has directed a lady petitioner to provide the court documentary proofs justifying one-year delay in approaching the court for reopening the Sabzazar shootout case against former chief minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif. Petitioner Khurshid Bibi of Wazirabad through her counsel Aftab Ahmad Bajwa submitted that her two sons namely Waseem Haider and Abdul Rauf were killed in Sabzazar shootout along with three other victims. The counsel said the families of three victims (Shakeel, Salah-ud-Din and Ashraf) had forgiven the accused Shahbaz Sharif last year, which led to his acquittal from the police encounter case. The bench headed by Justice Mian Najamuz Zaman asked the petitioner why she took one year in approaching the court against the release of Shahbaz Sharif. She told the court that her two sons had been killed in fake police encounter and her third son was physically handicapped while her husband had died due to prolong ailment. She also alleged that the Regional Police Officer Gujranwala Zulfiqar Cheema used to threat her for perusing the case before court. However, the bench asked the petitioner to produce within 15 days the documentary evidences to validate the one-year delay in approaching the court against the acquittal of former chief minister in Sabzazar shootout case by an anti-terrorism court.

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