ISLAMABAD: Lawma­kers on Friday lambasted PTI Cha­irman Imran Khan for allegedly trying to get political mileage from Thurs­day’s firing incident in Wazirabad by nominating political leaders and a military official as being behind the gun attack on the party’s rally en route to the capital.

Speaking on a point of order in the National Assem­bly, Def­e­nce Minister Khaw­aja Asif declared that the federal government wanted to unearth the conspiracy behind the incident and feared that if it was given a political colour then there would be no result of the investigation as had happened in all previous such cases — starting from the assassination of the country’s first prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan in 1951 to the martyrdom of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto in a gun-and-bomb attack in 2007.

Mr Asif said the “judicial murder” of PPP founder Zulfi­kar Ali Bhutto was exposed only when a former judge, Naseem Hassan Shah, admitted that they had given the verdict to hang Mr Bhutto under pressure during the military regime of Gen Ziaul Haq.

On the one hand, the minister called for an inquiry into the attack on the PTI’s march and on the other, while quoting the confessional statement of an arrested accused, he termed it the result of religiosity, stating that Imran Khan had perhaps crossed “red line” on religious issues during his speeches. He said in the past, he himself and another PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal had also become victims of religious fanaticism.

The defence minister was apparently responding to a video statement of PTI secretary general Asad Umar in which he had alleged that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and a military official were involved in the conspiracy to eliminate Imran Khan from the political scene.

Mr Asif also expressed his concern over the Punjab government’s act of suspending the whole staff of the police station concerned after the leak of the confessional statement of the accused, stating that all-out efforts were being made to achieve political objectives from the firing incident.

The minister said that even before start of the long march there were talks about bloodshed and this march had already claimed four lives, adding that all these deaths had a link with the container on which Imran Khan was travelling. He said the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had already issued a warning that any untoward incident and even the bomb blast could take place in the vicinity where the PTI’s march came under attack.

He said the federal government had already asked the provincial government to constitute a joint investigation team to probe the incident, stating that people having good reputation were present in the judiciary and bureaucracy.

Later, Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Shazia Marri also demanded a transparent probe into the incident and advised Imran Khan to behave “responsibly and not to incite the people to take revenge”.

PTI dissident Noor Alam Khan on the other hand expressed his concern over the alleged attacks on the country’s judiciary and the armed forces by followers of Imran Khan.

He also condemned the vandalism outside the residence of the Peshawar corps commander by the PTI protesters after the attack on the long march participants in Wazirabad.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2022