Head of Punjab govt's JIT probing Wazirabad incident changed

A day after forming it, home department changes horses in midstream

LAHORE:

Just a day after its formation, the Punjab government ON Friday changed on Friday the head of the joint investigation team (JIT) constituted to probe the assassination attempt on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan and the subsequent registration of the FIR in the case by the Wazirabad police.

The provincial interior department had initially appointed Director Inspector General (DIG) Establishment Chief Police Officer (CPO) Lahore Tariq Rustam as the head of the JIT.

However, in a JIT notified on Friday, Rustam was replaced by Regional Police Officer (RPO) Dera Ghazi Khan Syed Khurram Ali.

The investigation team formed by the home department on Thursday at the request of Punjab Police chief Faisal Shahkar comprised Dera Ghazi Khan Regional Police Officer Syed Khurram Ali; Ihsanullah Chohan, AIG/monitoring, investigation branch; Vehari District Police Officer Muhammad Zatar Buzdar, and CTD Lahore SP Naseebullah Khan.

However, in another change to the formation of the team, DPO Muhammad Vehari Zafar Buzdar has been replaced with SP Potohar division Malik Tariq Mehboob.

The convener of JIT can co-opt the sixth member of his choice.

Read Security beefed up at Imran's Lahore residence amid 'threats'

Due to the abrupt change right after its formation, the JIT has yet to hold its first meeting.

A day earlier, Adviser to Punjab Chief Minister Omer Sarfraz Cheema during a presser said that the preliminary forensic investigation revealed two people were involved in the attack on Imran Khan while two types of bullets were recovered from the containers.

He rejected the religious angle given to the attack. "In fact, religious hatred is being spread against Imran Khan. After the Wazirabad incident, an attempt has been made to spew poison against Imran Khan in Hafizabad as well," he added.

It may be mentioned that on Thursday a sessions court in Wazirabad sought a response from the local police while hearing a petition filed by PTI challenging the FIR registered on the complaint of a sub-inspector which did not implicate the three high-profile suspects named by Imran Khan.

Advocate Aurangzeb Marl argued that the police did not entertain the application filed by the petitioner and registered an “illegal FIR on the complaint” of a sub-inspector when the Supreme Court ordered the IGP to register the case within 24 hours.

Terming the FIR lodged by the police misleading and factually incorrect, he said it was liable to be rejected for the reason that the primary purpose of the police was to bar the registration of an FIR on the complaint of the petitioner.