JIT members dispute claim about Wazirabad attack

Members complain Lahore CCOP not considering their ‘divergent’

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD:

All the four members of the joint investigation team (JIT), investigating the gun attack on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on November 3, disputed certain claims in the media about their findings on Wednesday, saying that their divergent views were not given “due weight” by the JIT head.

In a joint statement, Dera Ghazi Khan Regional Police Officer (RPO) Syed Khurram Ali, Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), Punjab, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Naseebulllah Khan, Additional Inspector General of Police (AIG) Monitoring, Punjab, Ehsanullah Chohan and SP Potohar Division Malik Tariq Mehboob distanced themselves away from “some of the conclusions drawn and being shown on media”.

Imran sustained injuries in a gun attack in Wazirabad on November 3, while leading his ‘Haqeeqi Azadi’ march towards Islamabad. One person died in the shooting, while several members of the PTI chairman’s close circle, including Faisal Javaid, Imran Ismail, Ahmad Chattha and Imran Yousaf were also injured.

The Punjab government formed the JIT, led by the Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO), Ghulam Mahmood Dgoar. Last week, senior PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry claimed that the JIT had found that there was a planned attempt to assassinate Imran, adding: “The JIT report will be made public soon.”

However, the joint statement from RPO Khurram Ali, SSP Naseebulllah Khan, AIG Chohan and SP Tariq Mehboob contradicted the PTI’s claim that there were multiple shooters involved in the attack. “No credible or independent evidence has come on record which shows that there were more than one” shooter, it said.

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"No data, call record or witness has been found that connects the main accused [Naveed Bashir] with any other person", it continued. Based on the investigation so far, co-accused Waqas' status remained that of "facilitator only" and that it was "yet to be ascertained who was responsible for the death of Moazzam", it added.

"As members of JIT [we] have tried to [carry the investigation to] the best of our abilities", said the statement, adding that contrary to media reports, they held "very different views on the issue". The JIT members held the view that the FIR in the case was "still not complete and making it the basis of this investigation makes no sense".

The members complained that the Lahore CCPO – the JIT convener – did not gave the due weight to their opinion. “The eqnuiry has been conducted by the convenor & co-opted member [Anwar Shah ex-anti corruption] and the opinion of JIT members has not been given due weightage,” they said in the statement.

“The enquiry didn’t allow any professional input,” the statement went on. “JIT has not been concluded / report not submitted. Thus, making it a subject of discussion on media is very premature and malicious,” the joint statement concluded.

Differences in JIT

The Interior Ministry and the Punjab inspector general police were informed on Tuesday about the differences emerging in the JIT team. According to Express News, the four members of the investigating team and the Lahore CCPO had disagreements over the probe.

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Sources said that the Lahore CCPO had handed over the investigation to an anti-corruption officer, Anwar Shah, who was overseeing the questioning of the accused, while the JIT members were not being permitted to investigate him.