LAHORE: Police in Pakistan’s Punjab province registered an FIR in the attempted assassination of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday, days after the incident, naming the assailant who was arrested as the main accused in the case.
The move comes after the Supreme Court on Monday ordered the provincial government to file an FIR on Khan’s assassination attempt within 24 hours.
The FIR named the attacker, Naveed Mohammad Basheer, as the main accused. However, it does not mention the names of Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, and a senior Pakistani Army officer, Maj. Gen. Faisal Naseer, three people whom Khan has accused of hatching a plot. to assassinate him.
“We are going to challenge the FIR in the high court,” said a senior leader of Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf of Pakistan (PTI), said Fawad Chaudhry.
The delay in registering a case in the province of Punjab, which has PTI in the lead, has drawn attention.
“I wonder if I, being the former prime minister of Pakistan, can’t get a registered FIR regarding an attack against me, what will happen to the common man,” he said. On Sunday, Khan said no FIR has been recorded in the failed “assassination attempt” on his life as authorities refuse to file the case unless he removes the name of an Army general from the complaint.
Punjab Police said they registered the FIR under the direction of the Supreme Court and named the suspect, Naveed, under Section 7 of the Anti-Terror Law and Section 302, 324 and 440 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Police said they caught Basheer from the crime scene after he confessed to his crime. In a confessional video, Basheer said he attacked Khan because he was “misleading the public.”
Khan, 70, suffered gunshot wounds to his right leg on Thursday when two gunmen fired a volley of bullets at him and others traveling in a container truck in the Wazirabad area of Punjab province, where he was heading. a protest march against Shehbaz. Sharif’s government.
“I was hit by 4 bullets,” Khan said in his address to the nation from a hospital in Lahore on November 4, a day after he was shot during a rally in Punjab province.
He underwent surgery for the gunshot wounds at Shaukat Khanum Hospital, owned by his charity.
The former cricketer-turned-politician, who underwent surgery, was released from hospital on Sunday and transferred to his private residence in the city, hospital officials said.
Khan’s march to the federal capital, demanding new elections, was called off after last week’s shooting.
PTI senior leader Faisal Javed Khan said the march will resume on November 10 from Wazirabad.
Khan, ousted from power in a parliamentary no-confidence motion in April, says he will not join while he recovers from his injuries.
The federal government led by Shehbaz Sharif has rejected Khan’s demand for new elections, scheduled for August next year.
The political turmoil in Pakistan comes as it reels from the economic crisis and the effects of devastating floods.
The move comes after the Supreme Court on Monday ordered the provincial government to file an FIR on Khan’s assassination attempt within 24 hours.
The FIR named the attacker, Naveed Mohammad Basheer, as the main accused. However, it does not mention the names of Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, and a senior Pakistani Army officer, Maj. Gen. Faisal Naseer, three people whom Khan has accused of hatching a plot. to assassinate him.
“We are going to challenge the FIR in the high court,” said a senior leader of Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf of Pakistan (PTI), said Fawad Chaudhry.
The delay in registering a case in the province of Punjab, which has PTI in the lead, has drawn attention.
“I wonder if I, being the former prime minister of Pakistan, can’t get a registered FIR regarding an attack against me, what will happen to the common man,” he said. On Sunday, Khan said no FIR has been recorded in the failed “assassination attempt” on his life as authorities refuse to file the case unless he removes the name of an Army general from the complaint.
Punjab Police said they registered the FIR under the direction of the Supreme Court and named the suspect, Naveed, under Section 7 of the Anti-Terror Law and Section 302, 324 and 440 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Police said they caught Basheer from the crime scene after he confessed to his crime. In a confessional video, Basheer said he attacked Khan because he was “misleading the public.”
Khan, 70, suffered gunshot wounds to his right leg on Thursday when two gunmen fired a volley of bullets at him and others traveling in a container truck in the Wazirabad area of Punjab province, where he was heading. a protest march against Shehbaz. Sharif’s government.
“I was hit by 4 bullets,” Khan said in his address to the nation from a hospital in Lahore on November 4, a day after he was shot during a rally in Punjab province.
He underwent surgery for the gunshot wounds at Shaukat Khanum Hospital, owned by his charity.
The former cricketer-turned-politician, who underwent surgery, was released from hospital on Sunday and transferred to his private residence in the city, hospital officials said.
Khan’s march to the federal capital, demanding new elections, was called off after last week’s shooting.
PTI senior leader Faisal Javed Khan said the march will resume on November 10 from Wazirabad.
Khan, ousted from power in a parliamentary no-confidence motion in April, says he will not join while he recovers from his injuries.
The federal government led by Shehbaz Sharif has rejected Khan’s demand for new elections, scheduled for August next year.
The political turmoil in Pakistan comes as it reels from the economic crisis and the effects of devastating floods.
