LAHORE: The opposition has lambasted the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf over the Sahiwal killings, saying the incident exposed good governance claims of the government and demanded it should take responsibility for the incident and resign.

The opposition also announced that they would raise in the national and provincial assemblies the issue of cold-blooded murders of a family along with their driver by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) personnel when they were on their way to Burewala to attend a wedding ceremony on Saturday.

Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari condemned the killings and termed the incident “a vivid proof that the PTI government has made Punjab a police state”.

“The killings are a message to the people of the country that they should not go out with their children,” he said, adding, “The killings of parents in front of their children has exposed all tall claims of ‘good governance’ of the ruling PTI.”

Mr Bhutto-Zardari said the government had shamefully “disappeared” after the killings and recalled that the prime minister had claimed he would transform Pakistan into a welfare state like Medina, but he didn’t know that the head of the Medina state used to take responsibility for anything that would hurt his people.

He rejected the announcement for holding an inquiry into the killings as a face-saving tactic, saying nobody trusted the PTI government. “Those who shuffled ranks and positions in police just to please friends can never ensure justice.”

The PPP leader regretted that the entire government was dependent on twitter handles and was expert only in maligning tactics. “The fact is that law of jungle has been imposed on Pakistan under the garb of the PTI’s slogan of Naya Pakistan.’”

Similarly, the PML-N central spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said Prime Minister Imran Khan should honour the words he said in the past and resign accepting responsibility for the Sahiwal tragedy instead of the “gimmicks” of adopting the victim children.

“Imran Khan had so proudly said he was standing behind the performance of Chief Minister Usman Buzdar. That automatically fixed responsibility on Imran Khan because the bloodbath was carried out on his watch. When will the prime minister resign?” she asked, reacting to the Sahiwal incident.

Chiding the delayed response from Imran Khan to the tragic incident, she said the entire country remained in a state of shock over the heart wrenching tragedy, while the prime minister “woke up from his slumber” 24 hours after the incident.

“Innocent civilians of Pakistan were murdered in cold blood in front of their children on the prime minister’s watch. Why the names of prime minister and the inconspicuous chief minister have not been added to the anonymous FIR? Why were the names of the on-duty officers not added to the FIR?”

Ms Aurangzeb said the entire Punjab government had “gone into hiding” after the incident and if the CM had to wait for the PM’s nod to act on such an incident, the people of Punjab were doomed under this government.

The former information minister slammed the government spokesperson for focusing on financial support of the poor children instead of investigation.

“Prime Minister Imran Khan, please tell the nation, why were unarmed innocent civilians shot at. Just tweets won’t work at a time when people want retribution. Tell the people when will you stage a sit-in against the brutality in Punjab, when are you bringing in your signature container that you so fondly used to protest against such incidents, when will you besiege the parliament and set it on fire over this grave injustice. Tell the people of Pakistan, when will you drag the chief minister out to the people, like you used to say about past chief ministers? When are you planning to enforce your popular lock-down on Lahore over this incident?” she said, reminding Mr Khan of his previous conduct when he was in the opposition.

Opposition leader in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz said the PML-N didn’t want to go for point scoring on the gory incident, which was a blot on our society. But, he wondered that the government was clueless about the motives behind police firing even after 36 hours, as its ministers and law-enforcement departments were changing their statements after every few hours.

He demanded that the officials involved in the incident be given an exemplary punishment to set a precedent for others.

Chiding the chief minister for his “inaction” at the killings, Hamza recalled that Buzdar had transferred Pakpattan police chief after personnel intercepted the “royal family” and later had to tender an apology before the Supreme Court for the action.

He said whenever the opposition would raise an issue, the rulers would start abusing them and threatening to arrest them, while the State Bank reported that direct foreign investment had come to a halt and investors were also reluctant to venture out for want of political stability and certainty in the government’s policies.

The PML-N leader warned that if the cabinet members continued their hawkish approach, the national economy that was already “on ventilator” would be further damaged.

He told a questioner that the opposition didn’t desire to oust a government that was itself abdicating its responsibility.

He said referring to both the federal and Punjab governments that rifts among the ruling coalition were emerging fast.

Meanwhile, the PML-N had submitted motions both in the national and Punjab assemblies to discuss the tragedy, whereas the PPP Human Rights Wing staged a demonstration at Shahdara to protest against the killings and demanded justice for the victims’ families.

Siraj: Jamaat-i-Islami Emir Senator Sirajul Haq says the nation wants to know who gave a licence to kill the innocent to the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and police.

He was speaking to the media here on Sunday after visiting the home of the family which lost its three members and their neighbour in the firing by the CTD near Sahiwal on Saturday.

Condemning the incident as state terrorism, he said it had happened in broad daylight and the government ministers had changed their stance seven times. He said the whole nation was grieved and added that the people had no faith in the JIT set up by the government. He urged the judiciary to take notice of the matter and bring the culprits to the book.

He said it seemed that the Punjab chief minster wanted to pay a few rupees to the aggrieved family as blood money.

The JI chief said a terrorist would not travel with one’s family. He said this was a humanitarian issue and not a political one as the parents were shot dead before the eyes of their children. He questioned why the family was targeted without having sufficient information.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2019