LAHORE: Hearing an appeal of the provincial government against the acquittal of suspects in Sahiwal incident, the Lahore High Court on Wednesday sought assistance from the prosecutor general of Punjab on a point that what legal action could be taken against the witnesses for turning hostile.

“A family was gunned down in broad daylight. Can you imagine what impact the Sahiwal incident had on society?” Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, who headed a two-judge bench, asked Prosecutor General Rana Arif Kamal Noon.

The prosecutor endorsed the bench’s remarks and admitted that the incident had shaken society.

He regretted that all the prosecution witnesses resiled from their statements in the trial.

Justice Najafi asked the prosecutor: “Whether an inquiry can be held into this?”

Mr Noon said an inquiry could be held to find out whether the witnesses were bribed or pressurised to change their previous statements.

The judge observed that the witnesses narrated the whole incident to the media but resiled during the trial.

The judge asked the prosecutor to assist the bench on the legal consequences for the witnesses for resling from their statements and directed the witnesses, present in the court, to file their written replies by the next hearing.

The judge directed DPO Sahiwal to ensure his appearance on each hearing. The bench will resume hearing on March 21.

On Jan 19, 2019, Muhammad Khalil, his wife Nabeela and their four children were travelling in a car with their neighbour Zeeshan behind the steering wheel, when the personnel of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) intercepted the vehicle and opened fire on the passengers, suspecting they were terrorists.

Three minor siblings of Khalil -- Umair, Jazba and Muneeba -- survived the attack with minor injuries, while he, his wife and the neighbour died on the spot.

Yousafwala police had registered an FIR on the complaint of Jalil, a brother of the deceased Khalil, under sections 302, 324, 337 (F1, F-A1 & F3), 201 of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

The suspects -- Safdar Hussain, Ahsan Khan, Muhammad Ramzan, Saifullah, Hasnain Akbar and Nasir Nawaz -- were indicted by the trial court. However, they were later acquitted.

The prosecution presented 24 private witnesses, however, all of them exonerated the suspects and majority of them said they knew nothing about the occurrence.

The government filed the appeal against the acquittal of the police personnel.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2022