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Punjab Govt Declares Deceased Zeeshan as a Terrorist

LAHORE: Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat on Sunday said that Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar had announced a Rs 20 million compensation for the family whose three members were killed during an alleged shootout between Counter-Terrorism Department personnel and suspected terrorists in Qadirabad on Saturday.

Basharat was briefing the press alongside members of the cabinet on the Sahiwal ‘encounter in Lahore.

The Minister said that the team that took part in the operation had been taken into custody and its supervisor had been suspended.

A joint investigation team (JIT) tasked with probing the encounter will present its findings to the Punjab government within three days, he said, adding that a first information report had been registered at the family’s request.

The provincial law minister said the Punjab government would bear the expenses for the education of the surviving children “till whatever stage they want to study”, but also noted that financial support cannot be a replacement for such a huge loss.

Raja Basharat told reporters that for some time Zeeshan had links to a “dangerous network” of Daesh, a proscribed terrorist organisation, and was working with them. He claimed that this network was responsible for the murder of intelligence officials in Multan, the kidnapping of former premier Yousuf Raza Gillani’s son, Ali Haider, and the murder of two police officials in Faisalabad.

Basharat revealed that in the murder of the ISI officers in Multan, a silver Honda City car was used which police and agencies were searching for. On January 13, the Honda City was spotted allegedly carrying terrorists to Sahiwal.

When footage from the Safe City cameras was looked at, it was discovered that Zeeshan’s white Suzuki Alto was “also with the terrorists’ car”, the minister said.

He added that they would also share the video and pictures from the Safe City cameras which would show that Zeeshan’s car “was also being used by the terrorists”.

According to the minister, after tracing the car, surveillance footage between January 13 and 18 was reviewed and on January 18 it was “verified that Zeeshan was working with terrorists”.

The same day (Jan 18), agency personnel reached Zeeshan’s house and found terrorists present there along with explosive material, Basharat claimed.