ISLAMABAD:
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) filed a constitutional petition simultaneously in the Supreme Court's (SC) Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta registries on Monday challenging the decision not to include the names of the three suspects identified by party chief Imran Khan in the FIR over the murderous gun attack on him.
The petition in Lahore was filed by former chief minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar, PTI’s parliamentary leader in the Punjab Assembly, containing signatures of several party MNAs and MPAs, including PML-Q’s lawmakers.
Buzdar submitted the application to the Deputy Registrar Supreme Court Ejaz Goraya, who received the constitutional application and provided the diary number.
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The party also requested the court to take action against Senator Azam Swati’s incident and to give justice to the family members of journalist Arshad Sharif.
The former ruling party, in the petition, requested the formation of a judicial commission and that the SC should take suo motu notice of these matters.
Wazirabad incident FIR
The petition requested the court to also probe the refusal of registering the first information report (FIR) on the Wazirabad incident with the names of three suspects as per the victim Imran, who identified them for allegedly having devised the assassination plot.
"The refusal to file the FIR in accordance with the application received raises some fundamental questions about the law of the land and its selective applicability, which along with being an infringement of inalienable rights protected under Article 4 is also an infringement of the fundamental right of equal treatment of citizens as guaranteed under Article 25 of the Constitution," the petition stated.
It maintained that: "Apart from a commission of a blatant criminal violation of the law, the assassination attempt was a clear attempt to literally eliminate ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan. This is also a basic violation of the protection of life and security of a citizen of Pakistan as guaranteed under Article 9 of the Constitution."
The petition furthered that the assassination attempt was also intended to create psychological fear amongst the public, which has thronged the PTI’s long march led by Chairman Imran Khan.
"All this hinders the public-at-large from the peaceful assembly, therefore, undermining the fundamental right of freedom assembly of the citizens of Pakistan guaranteed under Article 16 of the Constitution," it added. The petition demanded the formation of a judicial commission to probe the matter.
Azam Swati
The petition further requested the court to probe through the “judicial commission” the illegal video recording of Senator Azam Swati and his wife made while they were staying at an official rest house, and sent to the senator’s wife.
"This is an infringement of the inviolable dignity of man guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution of Pakistan as well as a gross violation of the law in terms of wiretaps and clandestine camera placements for the purposes of making covert videos," it read.
Arshad Sharif
The petition also requested the court to probe through the “judicial commission” the brutal assassination of Arshad Sharif in Kenya. It stated that his killing has created a lot of consternation in the public in general and the journalist community in particular.
"It needs to be inquired by an independent commission into what circumstances compelled Sharif to flee from the country and eventually end up in Kenya, due to which circumstances, the assassination is being perceived by the journalist community as a threat to the freedom of speech of the journalist community, therefore, along with being an infringement of fundamental right of security of person (right to life) guaranteed under Article 9 and also impedes the fundamental rights of freedom of speech and access to information of the citizens of Pakistan guaranteed under Article 19 & 19-A, respectively, of the Constitution," stated the petition.
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"We think that a lot of important events have taken place and a probe needs to be carried out,” party Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said while talking to the media in Lahore.
He also said that the citizens of this country want to know the facts.
Vice Chairman PTI @SMQureshiPTI talks outside SC registrar after filing petitions regarding assassination attempt on Imran Khan, and for Azam Swati’s case. #امپورٹڈ_فیصلے_نامنظور pic.twitter.com/2vIQNFnOFi
— PTI (@PTIofficial) November 14, 2022
The party also filed petitions, signed by 26 MNAs and MPAs, in the apex court’s Karachi Registry for investigation of the three incidents.
The position adopted in the petition maintained that a judicial inquiry should be conducted into the attack on Imran Khan, the alleged indecent video of Azam Swati and the murder of anchorperson Arshad Sharif.
A similar petition was also submitted to the SC’s Peshawar Registry by Deputy Speaker Mehmood Jan, Provincial Ministers Atif Khan, Shaukat Yousafzai, Kamran Bangash, Dr Amjad, Senator Usman Tarkai and women MPs.
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.
(With additional input from Rana Yasif)
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