FAISALABAD. As many as 13 PTI leaders – including party chief Imran Khan – have been named in the first investigation report over the Masjid-e-Nabwi incident, where Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his delegation were heckled and assaulted by pilgrims, at the Faisalabad’s Madina Town police station on Saturday.

The FIR, a copy of which is available with Aaj Digital, was registered at the request of Faisalabad’s Khehkashan Colony resident Muhammad Naeem. Around 150 unidentified persons have also been named in the report.

Other PTI leaders named in FIR are Fawad Chaudhry, Shahbaz Gill, Sahibzada Jahangir Chico, Aneel Musarrat, Aijazul Haq, Umair Ilyas, Rana Abdul Sattar, Barrister Amir Ilyas, Gohar Jillani, and Qasim Suri. Former interior minister Sheikh Rashid and his nephew Rashid Shafique have also been named.

The police registered the FIR under sections 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting Its religion or religious beliefs), 295 (injuring or defiling a place of worship, with intent to insult the religion of any class), 296 (disturbing religious assembly), and 109 (punishment of abetment if the Act abetted committed In consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

“The accused persons [in the FIR], who belong to a political party, for their negative and malicious motives disrespected the Islamic norms and shouted insulting slogans at the most respected place for the Muslims. By shouting slogans and using abusive language, the pilgrims, including Pakistanis were harassed and forcefully stopped from performing their Islamic duties,” it read, adding that the incident disrespected Muslims around the world.

The applicant alleged that the whole incident was pre-planned and part of a conspiracy as part of his personal findings. He supported his claim by mentioning PTI leaders’ social media posts, which carried the Masjid-e-Nabwi incident as a “success”. He claimed that the PTI leaders were involved in the conspiracy to harass and stop pilgrims, including Pakistanis, from performing Islamic duties.

Naeem, the applicant, alleged that Rashid’s nephew Shafique was sent to Saudi Arabia by leading a delegation of “100/150 miscreants from Pakistan” for the above-mentioned purposes. He further supported his claim by mentioning a video of Shafique. He added that an apparent delegation of PTI from the United Kingdom had travelled to Saudi Arabia.

The applicant accused them of shouting slogans. He was of the view that the incident and using blasphemous and appreciating non-Islamic actions were also a crime under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

PTI leaders have announced to stage a protest outside the Madina Town police station against the FIR at 3:30pm on Sunday (today).