Imran Khan’s assassination case: Punjab IG submits report to the Supreme Court regarding FIR
ISLAMABAD ( Web News )
Inspector General of Police Punjab Faisal Shahkar submitted on Tuesday a report to the Supreme Court of Pakistan regarding the first information report (FIR) registered in the assassination case on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan.
The report maintained that an FIR of the attack was registered in compliance with the Supreme Court’s order.
According to the report, the FIR was registered at Wazirabad City police station, under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. The Supreme Court was also provided a copy of the FIR.
A day earlier, the Supreme Court had directed the Punjab IG to register the FIR in accordance with the law and submit a report within 24 hours.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umar Ata Bandial said that if the matter was prolonged, the Supreme Court will take suo motu action.
Following the Supreme Court ultimatum, an FIR was registered, in which prime suspect Naveed, who was arrested from the spot, was nominated in the case registered under various charges including terrorism, murder, attempt to murder and planning to kill someone.
A notification has been issued by anti-terror court chief Khurram Khan, stating that a three-member special prosecution team has been formed to investigate the case of the assassination of the former premier.
The committee “will give [a] line of inquiry to the investigating officer/ JIT (joint investigation team), provide guidance for collection of proper admissible evidence and conduct the remand of the accused before the anti-terrorism court (ATC)”, the notification stated.
It further maintained that the panel will also conduct the prosecution on behalf of the state before the court. The committee consists of Punjab Deputy Prosecutor General Hafiz Asghar Ali, and Gujranwala ATC Deputy District Public Prosecutors Rana Sultan Salahuddin Khan and Zahid Sarfraz Khan.
On the other hand, the Punjab Interior Department is to constitute a five-member JIT, and according to sources in the home department, it has received a letter from the Punjab Police.
The provincial police wrote a letter to the interior department for the formation of a JIT to investigate the attack. The letter requests that someone be selected from amongst Additional IG Riaz Nazir Garha, DIG Investigation Punjab Nasir Satti, Additional IG Monitoring Investigation Ehsanullah Chauhan, RO Naseebullah Lahore, and intelligence.
Earlier in the day Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Chaudhry Fawad Hussain complained about there being no rule of law, and powerful groups holding the country’s political and judicial system hostage.
The former minister’s remarks came as he expressed disappointment over the FIR registered against the attack on former prime minister Imran Khan in Wazirabad.
Further criticising the political system in place in the country, Fawad said that when Narendra Modi says he does not understand who to talk to in Pakistan, we have no answer. He noted that the Pakistan Army was a national power. However, the people are now an organized force under the leadership of Imran Khan.
He asserted that justice will be sought in the cases of Arshad Sharif, Azam Swati and the Wazirabad attack.
In another tweet, PTI leader Shafqat Mahmood also expressed dissatisfaction over the FIR not being registered “as per the demand of the complainant”.
He said that this is complete distortion of law, adding that it was unacceptable. The former education minister urged the Supreme Court to take notice of it.
“By this one act our entire legal framework has been turned upside down,” said Mahmood. Zubair Niazi, a relative of Imran Khan and general-secretary of PTI Lahore chapter, had lodged a complaint before the relevant station house officer (SHO) to register the FIR against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Major General Faisal Naseer named by Imran as suspects in the failed assassination attempt.
However, the FIR has been registered on the complaint of the sub-inspector police and the three top officials cited by the PTI chief have not been nominated in the case.
The federal police wrote to the interior secretary and chief commissioner, seeking permission to clear the M1 and M2 motorways leading to Islamabad Airport. Due to protests by PTI supporters, passengers arriving at Islamabad International Airport were facing severe difficulties due to closed routes.
In its letter, the police maintained that the airport was an important facility and the roads to it were of the utmost importance. It stated that Articles 97/149 and Article 151 of the Constitution guarantee the security of the airport and its routes.
The letter said that the Islamabad Airport and its routes were administratively within the boundaries of Punjab and that all important personnel travelled through those roads. It added that any untoward incident at the airport could disrepute the country. According to the letter, the obstructions at the Thalian and Peshawar Motorway were also causing problems.
It furthered that the Islamabad Police should be given complete powers and be ordered to clear the roads. Moreover, it stated that constitutionally, clear instructions should be given to the chief secretary of Punjab and the police chief.