The assassination attempt on PTI chief Imran Khan should not be politicised and the coalition government stands with them in seeking justice for it, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on the floor of the National Assembly on Friday.

“We need that those who are protecting people behind this should be arrested,” he said, lamenting that Pakistan lost two former prime ministers in assassination bids – Liaquat Ali Khan and Benazir Bhutto – and the country has not gotten “answers” of such incidents.

Imran, the former prime minister, was shot and injured on Thursday evening when a suspect standing in front of the PTI container carrying the party chief and other senior leaders reached Wazirabad during the ‘Azadi March’. At least one person was killed and 14 others, including Senator Faisal Javed and PTI Punjab leader Ahmed Chattha, were injured in the attack.

The prime suspect in the assassination attempt on Imran Khan said that he was only targeting the PTI leader. “Imran Khan is misleading people. I only tried to kill Imran Khan,” he can be heard saying in a video statement - given to the police - which is circulating on social media.

“If there is any conspiracy behind it then it should be brought to light and we should not hesitate from taking steps that could be helpful to us. If the inquiry into it or going into depth all this issue is politicised then this incident like in the past which have been buried and no progress was made. Today, also we are also a victim of rumours. There are many such incidents in our history.”

He spoke about the video of the prime suspect. Asif was of the view that the former prime minister through his speeches in the past has “reached a level or crossed a limit” which was considered to “redline of the religion” in society. The defence minister added that such speeches fanaticized the suspect.

But, he wondered about the decision to suspend the staff of the police station, under whose vicinity the incident happened, for a video leak rather than the incident itself. “This is being sabotaged at the initial level to gain political benefits and politcise it,” he said while expressing concerns over the Punjab CM’s decision to shift the suspect in his area.

So far, Asif said that four people have been killed in this long march from Lahore to Gujranwala and all incidents were linked to the container-laden truck of Imran.

He quoted Imran’s tweet in which the former premier claimed that a revolution was taking over the country.

“For 6 months I have been witnessing a revolution taking over the country. Only question is will it be a soft one through the ballot box or a destructive one through bloodshed?” Imran said in a tweet on October 31.

Asif stressed the need not to make this incident a “victim of politics”. The suspects must be traced. He alleged that the PTI was “not interested” in it while reacting to the three names the former ruling party gave as suspects.

“But taking the name of politicians and a senior officer of the army… this issue is being headed towards a matter where there will be no clue for anything.”

He added that more than 120 million Pakistanis were on social media and people was relying it more than the conventional media.

“Imran had himself given warnings by giving politicizing it. That it will happen. And, IB officially informed the Punjab government on October 28 that there will be some incident in this vicinity [Wazirabad] against you [Imran],” Asif said, “they had been warned against it. I am thinking that this incident is being used to make political gains by taking such names as suspects.”