LAHORE: The political crisis in Pakistan seems to be intensifying, with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan meeting Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi twice over the course of Monday as the deadlock over the first information report (FIR) pertaining to last week’s assassination attempt on Imran Khan continues.
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. Sources said that the decision to postpone the resumption of the Azadi March till Thursday was taken on Elahi’s advice.
According to the sources, during the meeting, Imran demanded the registration of the FIR in light of the top court orders, which gave the Punjab police chief 24 hours. Upon this, sources say, Elahi repeatedly told Imran that the order was for the registration of the FIR and did not saying anything about the names to be included.
Imran named three people - Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and the name of a senior military officer - who he said were responsible for the Wazirabad attack. However, the Punjab police is unwilling to include the name of the army officer, who heads a key branch at the ISI.
Sources say that Imran was unhappy with the refusal and said that as the victim of the attack, it was within his legal rights to name the accused.
They said that during the first of the two meetings, Moonis Elahi suggested that along with Shehbaz Sharif and Rana Sanaullah, the FIR could include an ‘unidentified suspect’ as the third accused.
“If some evidence is found during the investigation, the unidentified individual will be named later,” sources quoted the junior Elahi as saying.
However, Imran did not budge following which Pervaiz Elahi sought time and the PML-Q lawmakers left the meeting.
In the meantime, Imran consulted legal experts in a separate meeting regarding the inclusion of the army officer’s name in the police report.
Sources say the legal experts opined that legal provisions allowed for the inclusion of the name although the process is long. “If evidence is not found [against the individual who has been named], then the whole case would be ruined,” they reportedly told Imran.
Pervaiz Elahi returned to meet Imran for a second time later in the day.
Elahi told Imran that if the PTI gets an order from the Supreme Court for the inclusion of the three names in the FIR, only then would the army officer would be made part of the investigation. “Otherwise, it’s impossible.”
Moreover, Elahi also advised Imran to delay the resumption of the long march to Islamabad in light of the security situation. Sources said that Elahi told Imran there were fear of more attacks as long as the real mastermind behind the attack was not identified.
