The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Punjab Police Inspector General Faisal Shahkar to register the FIR of the assassination attempt of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan within 24 hours.
The SC gave the orders on Monday during a plea hearing filed by the interior ministry seeking action against Imran Khan for allegedly ignoring the court’s May 25 orders regarding the party’s earlier ‘Azadi March’.
During the hearing, Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial asked why no FIR had been registered for the attack on Imran Khan last Thursday.
On Thursday as the PTI long march caravan entered Wazirabad, a man identified as Naveed Ahmad, shot a round of bullets aimed at the PTI chief, injuring him in his leg. It was later learned that one by-stander was killed, while 14 others were injured as a result of the spray of bullets.
Following the incident, Imran Khan held Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Major General Faisal responsible for the attack, and the PTI wanted an FIR to be filed against the three.
However, Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi appeared reluctant to include the senior army official in the FIR, leading to a deadlock in the FIR registration, as Imran Khan had reportedly refused to take the name out.
A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and consisting of Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Mazahar Akbar Naqvi heard the plea today, where the matter of the FIR registration was raised.
CJP Bandial warned the police that the court would take suo motu notice if the FIR was not registered within 24 hours, asking him why it had not been registered yet despite 90 hours elapsing since the attack.
“How will an investigation be initiated without it? And without an FIR, even evidence can be altered,” he said, telling the IG that hewill be answerable in the sou motu notice.
“There was an attempt to kill a national leader, realise the sensitivity of the matter. Investigate, collect evidence and get a forensic [analysis] conducted,” he said, instructing the IG —who recently submitted a request to be removed from the Punjab office over claims of ‘political interference’— to ‘do his job’ and let the court take care of any interference by others.
