During the long march of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, several people including Imran Khan were injured in the firing near Wazirabad and one activist also lost his life.
This incident has created a stir in the politics of Pakistan. The most important aspect of this case is that despite the assailant being in police custody since the first day, the investigation of the case has not progressed even an inch. The leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf herself is admitting this.
The accused is in the custody of the Punjab Police while the PTI government is in the province. The incident has been mired in controversy ever since the FIR, and has now clearly gone in three different directions. The stance of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the federal government and now Naveed, the accused in the attack on Imran Khan, has made this case even more legally confusing.
The facts of the attack
On November 3 last year, there was a sudden firing by a crowd on the long march of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in the limits of Wazirabad, in which a dozen people including Imran Khan were injured and a passerby named Moazzam was killed by a bullet. Naveed, the accused attacker, was taken into custody at the same time.
A video statement of the accused Naveed was released in police custody in which he claimed responsibility for the attack on Imran Khan and claimed it was his personal act.
When Imran Khan applied for an FIR of the incident, he held Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and an ISI officer Major General Faisal Naseer responsible for the incident. However, the police did not register an FIR on this request.
Later, the police filed an FIR in their complaint on the order of the Supreme Court, in which only the incidents that took place at the time of the firing were mentioned.
The Punjab government formed a joint investigation team headed by CCPO Lahore Ghulam Mehmood Dogar for the investigation.
The members of the six-member JIT include SP Pothohar, RPO Dera Ghazi Khan Khurram Ali, AIG Monitoring Ehsanullah Chauhan and SPCTD Naseebullah.
The police have also detained the person who sold the pistol to accused Naveed, Waqas, and Naveed’s friend Sajid Butt, who introduced him to Waqas.
Where is the conflict?
The first controversy started with former Prime Minister Imran Khan filing his own FI.
The second controversy came to the fore of the investigation team which the Punjab government formed of its own accord, which the federal government refused to accept.
To the extent that political rhetoric was being played out on all sides, the situation started to get complicated when the investigations related to the case started to come out.
First the media and later Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf itself presented these investigations to the public. Which has started a new round of accusations.
What does Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf say?
Chairman Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan, in a TV address on January 5, while presenting the investigation in this case so far to the media, said that ‘the murderous attack on me was a well-thought-out conspiracy, videos related to blasphemy were released earlier. Then a plot was hatched to kill Salman Taseer. There were three shooters. The bullet that hit Moazzam was meant for accused Naveed.
Referring to the police investigation, the PTI chairman said that bullet shells were also found on nearby roofs. Which proves that it was a complete plan.
Talking to Urdu News, Punjab Home Minister Umar Sarfraz Cheema said that the accused is highly trained and he is not backing down from his statement that he did it all by himself.
As his video statement was immediately released which is now proven to have been recorded in the DPO’s office. Now what other evidence is left about the conspiracy.
When he was asked that the JIT was created by the government of its own accord, the police have access to everything, when will the full investigation of this conspiracy be brought to light? So he said, ‘No one is cooperating with JIT. The DPO did not give a statement. CTD picked up the accused from Wazirabad that night. Then issued a video statement and that officer also did not appear before the JIT.
He said, “In the polygraph test of the accused, it has been revealed that the statement he is giving is a lie.” It is not like he did this attack by himself.
The position of the federal government
The JIT set up to attack Imran Khan has not directly shared any details with the media nor has it submitted any concrete material regarding its investigation to the court yet. However, the inquiry brought forward by the leadership of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf has been rejected by the federal government.
Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah says that this is Imran Khan’s personal JIT, which was written only what Khan likes. Which JIT involves only police officers? There is no transparency whatsoever in this case. If anyone is obstructing the investigation, it is their Chief Minister Parvez Elahi himself.
PTI is repeatedly taking the name of DPO Gujarat, so have we planted it? Parvez Elahi has planted it. They deliberately want to prolong the case and are getting political advantage by hanging.
Accused’s statement
The statement of Naveed, accused of the attack on Imran Khan and his associates, has come out for the first time through his lawyer Mian Dawood. Earlier, his video statements in police custody were released.
Mian Dawood said that I last met the accused on January 3, in which he told that he had been brutally tortured by the police. His brother, sister and mother are also in police custody.
He said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Punjab government are directly influencing this case and the legal process is being sabotaged. JIT is only implementing what they get from Zaman Park in the form of instructions. Till now, not a single thing has been presented in the court, but Imran Khan read the polygraphic test and made it known to the whole world. We only want justice.
According to Mian Dawood, “I have information that the murder of Muazzam, who died there, is being blamed on my client and everyone knows that he was killed by the bullet of Imran Khan’s guard.” Nothing is being transparent in the investigation of this case.
current situation
When contacted, JIT chief CCPO Lahore Ghulam Mehmood Dogar was not available to discuss the matter on the allegations of the federal government and the lawyer of the accused.
Local media has published a forensic report in which “Imran Khan’s injuries were caused by metal fragments rather than bullets.”
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Imran Khan has criticized the leak of the forensic report from the JIT, but he has not challenged its veracity.
The accused Naveed is with the police on 14-day physical remand for the fourth time. He is kept at the Chowhang Center in Lahore where the JIT interrogates him on a daily basis.
A senior officer told Urdu News on the condition of anonymity that the JIT has engaged the highest investigating officers of the police to interrogate the accused. Officers from the CIA were called in, but none of the tactics proved effective yet. He is sticking to his first statement.
It has also been confirmed by Punjab Interior Advisor Umar Cheema that the accused is highly trained and has not backed down from his statement.
What the police did to the accused in more than two months and what evidence they collected to prove the case was a deliberate conspiracy, all the details will come out only when the case is presented in the court. .
