The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has decided to approach the Supreme Court to get the three suspects named by party chief Imran Khan included in the FIR over the murderous gun attack on the former prime minister.
The attack on the cricketer-turned-politician occurred during his “Haqeeqi Azadi March” on November 3 in Punjab’s Wazirabad district but the FIR was not registered in accordance with the complainant’s desire.
The party will move an application in the registries of the top court in all the provinces for the nomination in the FIR the three suspects the PTI chief believes were behind the attack. The members of the PTI have been instructed to file a writ petition in the Supreme Court on Monday (today).
The PTI MNAs from Islamabad will go to the apex court along with a team of lawyers. Similar writ petitions will be filed in the registries of the top court in all the provinces. The party's MNAs in all provinces have been instructed to reach the SC registries in their respective areas.
The PTI MNAs will reach the SC registries located in Lahore, Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta at 10am and file a petition, requesting the inclusion of the names of the three suspects named by Imran, in the FIR.
The party’s MNAs have been directed by their leadership to ensure their presence at the SC and its registries. Punjab government spokesperson Musarrat Jamshed Cheema has confirmed this development.
She said the PTI lawmakers in Punjab as well as its senior leaders in the province would approach the SC registry in Lahore at 10am.
Musarrat added that the SC would be requested to register an FIR of the attack on the PTI chief, the leader of the country’s “largest party”, as per his wishes. Even after the passage of a week, the FIR was not being registered in accordance with the PTI chief’s version, she lamented.
“At this time, the people’s trust in the law and institutions is decreasing. We demand that there should be a transparent investigation into the murderous attack on the PTI chairman,” she added.
Earlier this month, a relative of the PTI chairman had moved an application to register an FIR against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Major General Faisal Naseer, the three suspects named by Imran behind the botched assassination attempt on his life.
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However, the FIR was registered on the complaint of a sub-inspector police and the three top officials cited by the PTI chief have not been nominated in the case. Shortly after the attack, PTI leader and former federal minister Asad Umar issued a video statement, accompanied by a fellow party member and provincial minister Aslam Iqbal.
In the statement, Umar disclosed that both of them had a conversation with Imran after the attack and the PTI chief revealed that he already had information about it. The former minister said the PTI chief was certain that the men who had planned the attack were the prime minister, interior minister and a top military officer.
He demanded that these three men should be ousted from their posts. “We are waiting for Imran Khan’s nod. If these three people aren’t removed from their positions, there will be countrywide protests,” he warned Umar said he had spoken with the doctors treating Imran and his condition was stable.
He added that as the PTI chief had suffered bullet wounds to his leg, there could be two or three pellets lodged inside his body, especially the bone.
However, he said the doctors had carried out CT scans of Imran’s leg and said he was out of danger.
One person had died in the attack, while several members of the PTI chairman’s close circle, including Senator Faisal Javed, former Sindh governor Imran Ismail, Ahmad Chattha and Imran Yousaf, were injured.
Regional police chief Akhtar Abbas told Reuters a criminal investigation had been launched, without elaborating. A copy of the police report lodged by Wazirabad police and seen by Reuters said a man in the crowd near Imran had taken out a pistol and started shooting, wounding the former premier and 10 other people, one of whom later died.
The police said the suspected shooter was arrested after PTI supporter Ibtesam Hasan overpowered him and threw off his aim, possibly saving the ex-premier from more serious gunshot wounds. Hasan has in several local media interviews said the suspect detained by the police was the shooter he had tackled.
Imran, who has said two shooters had tried to kill him, and his aides have said they would not accept the case registered by the police it until it included the suspects named by him.
(With input from Reuters)
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