LAHORE: The mother and a brother of one of the victims of the recent Sahiwal shootout were disappointed on Friday when their promised meetings with the president of the country and the Senate chairman failed to materialise, the family confirmed to Dawn.

Ihtasham, a brother of Zeeshan Javed who was among the four people who died in last week’s shooting by law enforcement personnel, says that on Thursday evening police officials informed him that he and his mother would be taken to Islamabad to have a meeting with President Arif Alvi.

The news generated quite a lot of curiosity, especially when many of the government spokesmen had declared Zeeshan a terror suspect who, according to them, had actually been the reason why the car he and the family of his neighbour had been travelling in was hit by the officials of the Counter Terrorism Department.

There was another report saying the mother and son duo were set to meet Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani as they undertook the privileged trip to the capital. Muhammad Jalil, a brother of another victim Khalil, was also with them.

On Friday, television cameras panned on to a white car promptly arriving at Ihtasham’s house that has been a centre of protest all through the ongoing week because of the terrorism allegations thrown at Zeeshan.

The trip did take place but surprisingly there was no news about what transpired during the meetings, if any was held.

Dawn contacted Ihtasham on Friday evening and he said no meeting took place between them and the president or the Senate chairman.

“We were taken to the presidency and made to wait for two hours there. At the end of it, there was no meeting with President Alvi,” Ihtasham said.

“Likewise we sat a long time waiting to be shown in for a meeting with the Senate chairman. The meeting never came,” he said. He said there was no one to clarify as to why the president and the Senate chairman were not available and also that whether they were present in Islamabad or not.

“It was quite disturbing and embarrassing for me and especially my elderly mother when we were left unattended in the car for some hours and then the driver started driving back to Lahore,” Ihtasham said.

Meanwhile, Jalil told journalists outside his residence on Friday evening that he and his family members were humiliated while being taken from one place to another in Islamabad by an official car. He said they were forced to spend all the time on the roads instead of taking them for a scheduled meeting with the president and the Senate chairman.

Jalil’s lawyer Syed Shahbaz Bukhari said police officers had earlier paid many visits to his (Jalil’s) home late on Thursday and sough unnecessary details. He said the family was feeling insecure after the Sahiwal incident.

He said instead of giving relief to the family, the irresponsible statements of the PTI ministers continued to surface.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2019