The Lahore High Court on Tuesday issued a notice to witnesses for "hiding facts" in Sahiwal tragedy case - in which six personnel of Punjab's Counter Terrorism Department allegedly killed four people suspecting them terrorists, reported Dawn.

The court also issued notice to then-district police officer retired captain Mohammad Ali Zia.

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

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

According to Dawn, a two member bench comprising Justice Mohammad Amjad Rafiq and Justice Chaudhry Abdul Aziz conducted the hearing of case, wherein the latter lambasted the complainants for giving "false information".

Justice Aziz gave remarks during the hearing of the Punjab government's appeal against the 2019 acquittal of all six suspects.

In Tuesday's hearing, Khalil's brother Mohammad Jalil, 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.

Justice Aziz expressed ire at Jalil and said he had raised his voice about the incident but later declined to identify the suspects in trial court. Quoting Justice Aziz, the report said: "Should we not issue a notice to you for giving a false statement?"

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

The LHC judge told Jalil that he gave false staments and "[defame] the court" and reminded him the deceased was his brother.

An eyewitness, Waseem, appeared in the court and claimed the Sahiwal district police officer told him to give this statement.

The report also quoted Justice Aziz saying "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 prosecutor informed the court the suspects were acquitted because the witnesses renounced their earlier statements.

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.

In related news, many people took to Twitter to retweet Prime Minister's tweet from the time vowing he would pursue the case and punish the culprits.

They asked how ordinary people can expect justice when the system works against them.

And others made a dig about the prime minister not fulfilling his promise.