Islamabad/Lahore, Nov 8 (PTI) Punjab police on Tuesday registered an FIR over the failed assassination bid on Imran Khan and named the detained attacker as the prime accused, a day after Pakistan’s top court ordered the provincial police chief to register the case within 24 hours or face suo motu action.
The FIR named the assailant, Naveed Mohammad Basheer, as the prime accused in Thursday’s attack on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman, who suffered bullet injuries in the right leg, and booked him under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
However, it does not mention the names of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Major General Faisal Naseer – three people who Khan had accused of hatching a plot to assassinate him.
Punjab police said it has registered the FIR on the direction of the Supreme Court and named the suspect, Naveed, under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, and Section 302, 324, and 440 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Police said they nabbed Basheer from the crime scene after confessed to his crime.
Commenting on the development, Khan said that his lawyers would give his position on the “farcical FIR”.
In a series of tweets, Khan said that his party’s doors were open to “all democratic loving forces”.
“For the future of Pakistan the doors of PTI are open to all democratic loving forces to join our struggle for Justice, rule of law and freedom from foreign subservience our goal of Haqeeqi Azadi,” he tweeted.
Fawad Chaudhry, a senior leader of Khan’s party, said they are going to challenge the FIR in the apex court.
The delay in getting a case registered in Punjab province, which has PTI at the helm, has raised eyebrows.
“I wonder if I, being the former prime minister of Pakistan, can’t get an FIR registered regarding an attack on me, what will happen to the common man,” he said.
On Sunday, Khan, 70, said that an FIR has not been registered on the botched assassination attempt on his life as authorities are refusing to file the case unless he removes the Army general’s name from the complaint.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Tuesday asked the provincial governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to open up the national highways and warned the two provinces of constitutional consequences if they failed to do so.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Sanaullah said that Khan’s party was ruling in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and controlling the largest province of Punjab as the largest coalition partner.
He said that small groups of PTI protestors had installed barricades on the main arteries of the major cities including Rawalpindi as well as blocking M2 Motorway, linking Peshawar with Islamabad and Lahore, and some highway.
“The provincial government should take action against protestors blocking roads otherwise there will be constitutional consequences, he said.
He also alleged that police in the two provinces were facilitating the protestors instead of removing their barricades.
He warned that masses were upset and may take law into their own hands to remove roadblocks installed by protestors by force, amidst reports of face offs between protestors and angry citizens.
Sanaullah also said Khan had disrespected the religious sentiments of the people and the attacker was motivated by religious extremism. “Such people are self-motivated. His cell phone material shows that he was extremely motivated,” he said about the lone attacker arrested after firing on Khan.
He added that the suspect was not a part of any political or religious party. All the people he was linked to and in contact with are being investigated, he said.
Talking about the FIR registered by police, Sanaullah has said that only one suspect had been taken into custody for the assassination attempt on Khan. “I say this again, Naveed is the only suspect. There is no other suspect,” he said.
When asked why names of the people named by Khan, including the interior minister, were not included in the FIR, he said: “There must be some sort of evidence for the FIR to be registered.”
He said Khan was trying to include people in the FIR as per his wishes. By that argument, someone can even register a case against the chief justice, he said. There must be some sort of evidence to convince the police.
Meanwhile, the prosecution constituted a three-member committee in the attack case, according to a notification issued by the Punjab prosecutor general.
The committee “will give 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 committee comprising Punjab Deputy Prosecutor General Hafiz Asghar Ali, and Gujranwala ATC Deputy District Public Prosecutors Rana Sultan Salahuddin Khan and Zahid Sarfraz Khan would also conduct the prosecution on behalf of the state before the court, the notification read.
Khan suffered bullet injuries in the right leg on Thursday when two gunmen fired a volley of bullets at him and others in the Wazirabad area of Punjab province, where he was leading a protest march against the Shehbaz Sharif government.
The cricketer-turned-politician, who underwent surgery for the gunshot wounds at the Shaukat Khanum Hospital owned by his charitable organisation, was discharged on Sunday and moved to his private residence in the city.
Khan’s march to the federal capital, demanding fresh elections, was suspended after the shooting last week. The march will resume on Thursday from Wazirabad.
Khan, ousted from power in a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April, says he will not join it while he recovers from his injuries.
The federal government led by Shehbaz Sharif has rejected Khan’s demand for fresh elections, which are due only after August next year.
The political turmoil in Pakistan comes as it reels from the economic crisis and the effects of devastating floods.