LAHORE: Punjab government has finally started action to set up a Joint Investigation Team to investigate the assassination attempt on Imran Khan last Thursday, said a press handout on Wednesday.
The decision was taken by the cabinet’s committee on law and order. The committee was chaired by Raja Basharat and included Omar Sarfraz Cheema, the chief secretary and other senior officers.
However, since PTI itself is in government, it was not clarified whether the government would talk to protestors or if the matter would be raised within the party to reopen motorways that have been blocked for the last three days.
Imran Khan was injured after the ‘Haqeeqi Azadi March’ came under fire in Wazirabad. One person was killed while multiple PTI leaders were also injured.
Additional IG Highways Patrol Riaz Nazeer Gara will head the JIT, and members of multiple security agencies, including CTD, will be part of the team.
PTI has announced that the long march is set to resume its progress from Wazirabad from Thursday, exactly a week after the attack. Fawad Chaudhry said that there will be no more delays and the march will reach Rawalpindi by the third week of november where Imran Khan will join in person. Shah Mahmood Qureshi will lead the march in Khan’s absence
The committee decided that the security arrangements normally reserved for former PM Imran Khan will continue to be provided for the long march container as it travels from Wazirabad to Rawalpindi. This includes 15,000 police officials as well as snipers to guard the long march’s route. Police has also been asked to ensure that a bullet-proof rostrum is installed on top of the container.
The district administrations through whose jurisdiction the march will pass have been instructed to maintain close contact with PTI leadership.
The committee also decided that PTI will be engaged for reopening of motorways and giving passage to judges. The party has been on protesting since Monday, with traffic in Rawalpindi seeing particular blockages.
The FIR of the incident was finally registered on Tuesday, after the Supreme Court threatened police authorities with a suo moto notice. Curiously enough, the FIR was also leaked to the media on Monday night.
However, PTI immediately made its reservations known, with Musarrat Cheema even calling it fake. However, when the authenticity of the FIR was indeed confirmed, PTI organized a protest in front of the IG office.
The deadlock originated from Imran Khan’s insistence that the names of Shahbaz Sharif, Rana Sanaullah and a senior army officer be included in the FIR. However, the final FIR contained none of the three names. It remains to be seen if the JIT will fulfill Imran Khan;s wishes of investigating the three people.
The proposal for a JIT emerged immediately after the attack, when CM Pervaiz Elahi had issued a statement after meeting Imran Khan in Lahore. Elahi had said that he had instructed that the CTD be included in the team.
“We want to know who is behind the attack, who trained him, where he got the money for the attack from,” Elahi has said.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had also called for a JIT to be formed for a free and fair investigation, assuring the Punjab Government of his support. However, it is unclear if the provincial government will accept the offer of support, after the interior minister has regularly attacked PTI in his press conferences.
