Heads roll but confusion grows in Sahiwal case.

Byline: Ashraf Javed

LAHORE -- The whole CTD chain of command relevant to the Sahiwal tragedy has been removed on the orders of Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar in light of the initial JIT report presented on Tuesday.

The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has declared Khalil and his family members innocent and held the CTD officials responsible for their murder. The team however sought more time to investigate the status of Zeeshan - who the CTD still claims was a 'terrorist'.

Those removed and suspended include the head of the Punjab's counterterrorism department (additional IG), a DIG, an SSP and a DSP of CTD.

Moreover, at least five CTD officials have been charged for the murder of Khalil, his wife and their daughter on a highway on Saturday near Qadirabad.

Law Minister Raja Basharat, who towing the CTD line had earlier declared all the victims as terrorists, took a U-turn yesterday by clearing the Khalil family of terrorism charges

Talking to the media after JIT's presentation of report to a meeting chaired by the CM, he however insisted that Zeeshan was an ISIS terrorist, saying that details about him would be shared with the journalists on Wednesday in an in-camera briefing.

The minister's fresh statement, which again seems to be the CTD version, has made the case more mysterious than bringing any clarity to the situation.

Some experts saw it as another effort by the unseen hands to manoeuvre things, as keeping the 'anti-terror operation' angle relevant to the story may ultimately provide enough room to save many skins.

Anomalies in case

There are a number of things that have raised serious doubts over the way the police 'operation' was conducted and the manner in which the case was handled after the witness accounts and videos of the deadly shooting made it clear that something terribly wrong has happened.

Two FIRs have been filed of the incident, which in itself is an illegality. Both these FIRs are highly contradictory. The exact number and identity of the officials who carried out the murders remain unknown. The crime scene had been washed before the JIT visited it.

If it really was an anti-terror operation then what was the exact task of the team which conducted it? Were they supposed to capture the 'terrorists' or they had been ordered to finish them on the spot?

Then, there is shady killing of two alleged terrorists in Gujranwala at the night of the same day and their linking to the Sahiwal tragedy victims by the CTD - at...