The Punjab police have finally registered an FIR for the attempted assassination of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairperson Imran Khan at Wazirabad police station, sources said on Monday.

However, the FIR which was ‘sealed’ after the registration was leaked to social media within a couple of hours and the PTI reacted sharply to the development when it found out that none of the three people named by Imran Khan had been nominated in the FIR.

Imran Khan had named PM Shehbax Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, and a senior army officer as the person behind the attempt on his life.

Over the weekend, the Punjab authorities refused to register the FIR when the PTI refused to drop the name of the army officer.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC), while hearing a contempt of court case on Monday, asked the Punjab police why a case for the assassination attempt was not registered and directed the Punjab police chief to lodge an FIR within 24 hours.

The case was registered in the evening under sections of murder, attempted murder, terrorism and other provisions. Prime suspect, Naveed, who was captured by witnesses on the spot, had been formally nominated in the case, sources added.

Police sources said the FIR had been sealed and would be presented before the SC tomorrow. The FIR would be made public later, they added.

After the registration of the case, the main accused Naveed would be formally arrested tomorrow, sources said, adding that the accused Naveed was currently in the custody of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in Lahore.

PTI’s reaction

Following the development, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said in a tweet that PTI had made its position clear, adding that if the names of the accused nominated by Imran Khan were included in the FIR then it would be legal, otherwise the FIR would not be acceptable to PTI. “FIR will be a worthless piece of paper.”

“Filing an FIR against anyone other than the accused nominated by PTI in the assassination attempt on Imran Khan is a waste of time,” PTI leader Musarrat Cheema said in a tweet, adding that such a cover-up was not acceptable to the entire nation including Imran Khan.

Reason for delay in registering FIR

PTI demands that a case of the attempted assassination of Imran Khan be registered against three persons — Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, and a senior military officer.

The Punjab government and the police have no objection to registering an FIR against the prime minister and the interior minister, but they were reluctant to include the name of the senior military officer in the FIR.

They had told the PTI leaders that if they removed the third name, the FIR would be registered immediately. However, PTI was not ready for this.

Earlier today, Chief Minister Punjab Parvaiz Elahi along with his son Moonis Elahi visited Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence to resolve the impasse over the inclusion of names in the FIR.

During their meeting, Imran Khan demanded to register an FIR in the Wazirabad firing incident in the light of the orders of the Supreme Court. However, Elahi told the PTI chief that the court in its order had not mentioned including the name of the senior military officer in the FIR.