LAHORE  -   Two more witnesses on Monday appeared before the joint investigation team and got their statements recorded in connection with the deadly police shooting in Sahiwal district.

Police sources said the JIT headed by Punjab Police Additional-IG Ijaz Hussain Shah visited Yousafwala police station in district Sahiwal where they recorded the statements of two more persons who witnessed the firing incident.

The high-powered team reached the tragedy hit district just one day after the provincial government appealed the general public through media advertisements to appear before the JIT members along with any kind of evidences including video clips or eyewitness accounts so that the investigation into the latest police ‘encounter’ could be completed.

Ijaz Hussain Shah during a brief chat on Monday told reporters in Sahiwal that only two more witnesses appeared before the JIT to get their statements recorded. “We shall stay in Sahiwal for another 24 hours and anyone who wanted to share any information or evidence can contact us by phone,” police official Shah said while leaving the Yousafwala police station in a convoy of SUVs. 

Earlier, the JIT members had recorded statements of at least 10 people who had witnessed the shooting.

According to one eyewitness account, police commandoes opened fire on the moving car. As the car stopped after hitting fence along the highway, police removed three children from the vehicle and again started firing on the passengers with assault rifles. Four persons including a teenage girl and her parents died inside instantly.

A Lahore-based grocery store owner Khalil, 43, his wife Nabeela, 37, daughter Areeba, 13, and friend Zeeshan, 36, were killed by CTD police during a so-called security operation in the Sahiwal district on January 19.

According to the autopsy report (a copy of which is available with The Nation), all the four victims were shot in the head and from a close range. Khalil was shot 11 times, his wife Nabeela sustained four bullets, daughter Areeba received six bullets, and friend Zeeshan who was driving the car received 13 bullets.

The family members were going to Buerawala village to attend a wedding party when they were intercepted by CTD police near Qadirabad in Sahiwal. Nine-year-old Muhammad Umair and seven-year-old Jaazba sustained minor injuries. Only, five-year-old Muneeba remained hurt.

Last week, all the JIT members visited the crime scene and expressed their displeasure since it was not preserved by police. Officials believe the crime scene was washed by law enforcement agents in haste.

Two separate FIRs of the same incident have been registered with Lahore CTD police and Sahiwal district police respectively. The victims were mentioned as martyrs in the FIR registered against CTD officials with the local police. However, they were stated “terrorists” in the FIR registered with CTD police against them. 

A CTD spokesperson had described Zeeshan as an active member of the ISIS in Punjab and said, “This morning, intelligence was received that terrorists were traveling towards Sahiwal with arms and explosives. They used to travel with families to avoid police checking. They were warned to surrender but they started firing.”

The situation took a new twist when one of the survivors refuted CTD claims while narrating the firing incident in a video that went viral on the social media several hours after the tragedy. Nine-year-old Muhammad Umair told reporters in Lahore that his teenage sister had also survived the first gunfire. He said the policemen removed four children from the vehicle after initial firing on the car. The police pushed back the girl into the car and again started firing, recalled the child who narrowly survived the shooting along with two minor siblings.

According to Umair, the police after killing his parents and the driver Zeeshan had shifted all the four siblings to the police van. A few minutes later, they called Areeba and pushed her again into the car before opening indiscriminate fire.

According to police official Hussain, six personnel of the counterterrorism department were detained for questioning by police following the incident. They were sent to jail by a local court on Monday. Further investigation was underway.

The provincial government had constituted the JIT to fully investigate the incident as PM Imran Khan took notice of the latest police shooting and pledged that those found guilty would be give “exemplary punishment.”

In its initial report, the JIT confirmed that three family members who were killed in the incident were innocent and they had nothing to do with any terror outfit. However, a provincial minister last week claimed that the security operation was “100 percent” accurate. The JIT so far has failed to establish that Zeeshan was affiliated with the terror group ISIS or DAESH as claimed the CTD.

Meanwhile, counsel for the victim family on Monday demanded proper security cover stating that they were being harassed by officials of the law enforcement agency. Talking to reporters in Lahore Syed Shahbaz Bukhari said that life threats were being given to family of the victims and he himself had also received a threatening call.

He alleged that some officials of Counterterrorism Department were pressurising his clients not to pursue the case against their colleagues involved in the shooting incident. He said Khalil’s family had already informed the Chief City Police Officer and the Joint Investigation Team about the threats. The government should provide security to his clients, he added.

Bukhari also alleged that he had also received a threatening call from a CTD official. The lawyer also presented a seven-minute recorded call during the press conference and said the recording had been given to JIT head Additional -IG Ijaz Shah. The JIT members had assured that the latest tools would be used in the investigations, he added. Bukhari said a petition would be filed in the Lahore High Court for shifting the case to Lahore.