PESHAWAR: The leaders of various political parties have condemned the killing of people by police in Sahiwal and demanded judicial probe into the incident.

Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) chairman Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao in a statement here on Monday asked the government to probe the incidents occurred in Sahiwal, Punjab and Khaisor village in North Waziristan and provide justice to the affected families.

He said the sanctity of veil and shelter was violated in Khaisor village. He said that it was not the first case of its kind as similar incidents had taken place in the past. He said that it would create distrust among the people. about the state institutions.

Mr Sherpao showed sympathy with the relatives of the people, who were killed in an alleged encounter by Counter-Terrorism Department in Sahiwal. He said that the officials involved in the incident should be awarded exemplary punishment.

The QWP leader said that the Sahiwal incident created unrest among the people and raised questions about the ability of the law-enforcers.

He criticised the Punjab law minister for terming the killing in Sahiwal as “collateral damage”, saying it was tantamount to rubbing salt into the wounds of the affected family.

PPP women wing provincial president MPA Nighat Orakzai also condemned the incident, saying she had submitted a resolution to the provincial assembly secretariat to condemn the tragic incident.

“I want the assembly to approve the resolution so that exemplary punishment could be awarded to the personnel of CTD for taking lives of innocent people without any reason,” she said.

The MPA urged the government to ensure provision of proper medical and psychological care to the children, who survived the gory incident. “I want the government to ensure provision of all facilities to the children including quality education so that they could become sensible citizens of the country,” she added.

Similarly, PML-N provincial president Amir Muqam also described the incident as total failure of the government. He demanded judicial probe into the matter to teach a lesson to the people involved in the heinous crime.

In a statement, he said that PTI leadership always claimed to have brought reforms in police but the incident showed the reality of the hollow claims. He said that government should admit failure and take legal action against the concerned officials otherwise such incidents would force people to take to the streets across the country.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2019