New Delhi: In the Sahiwal encounter case of Pakistan in which three members of an innocent family were killed by personnel of Punjab province’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), authorities have sacked the head of the CTD after probe revealed that the shootout was fake.


Five senior officials of the department including its head have been booked under terrorism and murder charges.

A brutal encounter took place near Lahore on Saturday when CTD personnel opened fire at a family of six suspecting them to be terrorists. The family was traveling to a wedding along with a person who was suspected to have terror links. The suspect and three members of the family, including a couple and their teenage daughter were killed, while three minor kids who were hiding in the vehicle’s trunk survived the shootout.

"In the light of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), five senior officers, including CTD Punjab Chief Additional Inspector General Rai Tahir, have been sacked and five officials of the CTD who took part in the encounter booked under terrorism and murder charges," Punjab Law Minister Basharat Raja was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Raja was addressing media persons in Lahore on the action taken following the JIT report.

The anti-terror department initially termed the victims as "terrorists of the Islamic State", but later declared three of them -- the couple and their 13-year-old daughter -- innocent civilians.

Raja said action against more officials would be taken after completion of the investigation. He also said the fourth victim, Zeeshan Javed, was a terror suspect and the government would give a detailed briefing of his alleged links with terrorists on Wednesday.

The encounter had sparked nationwide outrage in the country.