LAHORE (Reuters) – The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) investigating the Nov. 3 shooting attack on former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has stopped working after its leader was suspended, a said a senior police officer on Saturday.
Khan, the chairman of Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was shot in the right leg when two gunmen fired a volley of bullets at him and others standing on a container-mounted truck in the Wazirabad region, where he was leading the march against the government to demand early elections.
He blamed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Major General Faisal Naseer for plotting to assassinate him.
“The JIT investigating the assassination attempt on former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s life is no longer functional after the Federal Service Tribunal cleared the Federal Government’s decision to suspend the Lahore Police Chief, Ghulam Mahmood Dogar, who is its (JIT) chief,” a senior officer said. of Punjab Police told PTI on Saturday.
There was a fight between the Shehbaz Sharif government and the Punjab administration where Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) governs in coalition with the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) over Dogar’s appointment as head of Lahore Police.
The officer said Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi will soon appoint the new JIT leader in case the law does not provide for retaining Dogar as JIT leader.
He further said that the JIT under Dogar recorded the statements of about 800 police officers and PTI workers who were present near Khan when the attack on him took place.
He said JIT also interviewed arrested suspect Muhammad Naveed, who insisted he acted alone.
Khan underwent surgery for gunshot wounds at Shaukat Khanum Hospital in Lahore owned by his charity and moved to Zaman Park residence in Lahore.
Punjab police had registered the FIR in connection with Khan’s assassination attempt, but did not mention “high-level suspects, including senior ISI official Khan, held responsible for the offensive”.
Khan dismissed the FIR, saying without naming Prime Minister Sharif, Interior Minister Sanaullah and the head of ISI’s counterintelligence wing, Major General Faisal in the FIR, that it is just a “trash can”.
Punjab Police said they caught Naveed at the crime scene and confessed to his crime. Naveed in his confessional statement said he wanted to kill Khan as music was being played during Azan time during his long walk.
Indirectly blaming the powerful military establishment, Khan had said: “I wonder if as a former Prime Minister of Pakistan I cannot register an FIR in connection with the attack on me and other workers in the PTI, what will happen to the common man?”
He claimed that Naveed was a trained shooter and that another shooter had opened fire on him from another direction.
Khan, the chairman of Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was shot in the right leg when two gunmen fired a volley of bullets at him and others standing on a container-mounted truck in the Wazirabad region, where he was leading the march against the government to demand early elections.
He blamed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Major General Faisal Naseer for plotting to assassinate him.
“The JIT investigating the assassination attempt on former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s life is no longer functional after the Federal Service Tribunal cleared the Federal Government’s decision to suspend the Lahore Police Chief, Ghulam Mahmood Dogar, who is its (JIT) chief,” a senior officer said. of Punjab Police told PTI on Saturday.
There was a fight between the Shehbaz Sharif government and the Punjab administration where Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) governs in coalition with the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) over Dogar’s appointment as head of Lahore Police.
The officer said Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi will soon appoint the new JIT leader in case the law does not provide for retaining Dogar as JIT leader.
He further said that the JIT under Dogar recorded the statements of about 800 police officers and PTI workers who were present near Khan when the attack on him took place.
He said JIT also interviewed arrested suspect Muhammad Naveed, who insisted he acted alone.
Khan underwent surgery for gunshot wounds at Shaukat Khanum Hospital in Lahore owned by his charity and moved to Zaman Park residence in Lahore.
Punjab police had registered the FIR in connection with Khan’s assassination attempt, but did not mention “high-level suspects, including senior ISI official Khan, held responsible for the offensive”.
Khan dismissed the FIR, saying without naming Prime Minister Sharif, Interior Minister Sanaullah and the head of ISI’s counterintelligence wing, Major General Faisal in the FIR, that it is just a “trash can”.
Punjab Police said they caught Naveed at the crime scene and confessed to his crime. Naveed in his confessional statement said he wanted to kill Khan as music was being played during Azan time during his long walk.
Indirectly blaming the powerful military establishment, Khan had said: “I wonder if as a former Prime Minister of Pakistan I cannot register an FIR in connection with the attack on me and other workers in the PTI, what will happen to the common man?”
He claimed that Naveed was a trained shooter and that another shooter had opened fire on him from another direction.
