A Lahore High Court (LHC) judge on Tuesday lambasted the witnesses in the Sahiwal firing case, in which six personnel of the Punjab police's Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) allegedly gunned down four people, for giving "false statements".

Justice Chaudhry Abdul Aziz — who is part of a two-member bench along with Justice Mohammad Amjad Rafiq — made the remarks during the hearing of the Punjab government's appeal against the 2019 acquittal of all six suspects.

In January 2019, Mohammad Khalil, his wife and their three children were travelling in a car, with their neighbour Zeeshan behind the steering wheel, when CTD personnel stopped the vehicle and opened fire on the passengers suspecting them to be terrorists. Khalil's two children Umair and Muneeba had survived the attack.

The suspects said that they had information that Zeeshan had links with a terror outfit. They also claimed that all the victims were killed in an 'encounter' that turned out to be false after the two minor children narrated the facts of the incident to the public.

During today's hearing, Khalil's brother Mohammad Jalil, who was the complainant in the case, and all six suspects — Safdar Hussain, Ahsan Khan, Mohammad Ramzan, Saifullah, Hasnain Akbar and Nasir Nawaz — appeared in the court.

Addressing Jalil, Justice Aziz said he had previously raised a lot of noise about the incident but later declined to identify the suspects in the trial court. "Should we not issue a notice to you for giving a false statement?" he asked.

Jalil said he wanted to engage a lawyer. At this, Justice Aziz told the complainant that he could hire a lawyer later but first, he should inform "how you said in the court that you do not know anything about the case".

"You give false statements and [defame] the court," the judge added. "The deceased was your brother."

An eyewitness, Waseem, also appeared in court during today's hearing and claimed that the "Sahiwal district police officer (DPO) told me to give this statement".

Justice Aziz said the "second view" was revealed later but the country was "defamed" earlier.

"Prosecution witnesses too said that they did not know anything. We used to cry after hearing the stories the witnesses narrated on television. Later, all the witnesses said they didn't know anything."

The suspects were acquitted because the witnesses renounced their earlier statements, the prosecutor informed the court.

Subsequently, the court issued notice to then-DPO retired captain Mohammad Ali Zia, as well as, Jalil and witnesses of the case for "hiding facts".

The case was adjourned till January 17, 2022.

Statements of 49 witnesses recorded

On Jan 19, Yousafwala police had registered a First Information Report (FIR) on the complaint of Mohammad Jalil, Khalil's brother, under Sections 302, 324, 337(F1, F-A1 and F3) and 201 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

Initially, the trial was conducted in Sahiwal. However, the LHC had on June 17 shifted the proceedings to Lahore, allowing an application filed by the complainant.

During hearings of the case, a special anti-terrorism court had recorded statements of 49 witnesses, including close relatives of Zeeshan and Khalil.

The injured witnesses [children of Khalil, who were accompanying the victim when he was targeted] had not identified the suspects nor were the suspects identified during photogrammetric tests.

The suspects were acquitted in October 2019 after the court gave them the benefit of the doubt.

The court observed that the official who had provided the suspects with the weapons said he was returned all the weapons and bullets.