Four more years for Imran's attacker in illegal arms case

A court in Wazirabad has awarded an additional four-year sentence to Muhammad Naveed, already serving two life terms for the attack on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former premier Imran Khan, in a case of illegal possession of arms.

Judicial Magistrate Fazl Elahi declared the convict guilty under the Punjab Arms (Amended) Ordinance 2015. After reviewing the evidence in Case/FIR No 742/2022, the magistrate sentenced Naveed to four years of simple imprisonment along with a fine of Rs40,000.

The court has directed that the sentence run concurrently with any other sentences the convict is serving.

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According to a warrant issued by the court on February 2, the Superintendent of Central Jail Gujranwala, has been authorised to take Naveed into custody to implement the four-year sentence.

The sentence relates to an incident on November 3, 2022, when Naveed attempted to assassinate Imran during PTI's long march in Wazirabad by opening fire on the rally. The former premier was shot in the shin and left injured. Senator Faisal Javed and several others were also injured while one party worker was killed.

Following the attack, Imran accused the then Pakistan Democratic Movement government and certain officials of involvement in the incident.

Police arrested Naveed at the scene. The FIR was formally registered at City Police Station on November 7, and a joint investigation team was formed under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 1997.

In April 2025, Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Muhammad Naeem Saleem sentenced Naveed to two life terms under Pakistan Penal Code Section 302(b), which pertains to premeditated murder and ATA Section 7(a), which pertains to acts of terrorism.

Two co-accused, Tayyab Jahangir Butt and Waqas, were acquitted after being granted the benefit of doubt.