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LAHORE: Members of the Joint Investigation Team probing the Wazirabad attack on PTI Chairman Imran Khan have disputed claims that there were multiple shooters in the attack on the former prime minister.
In a letter, addressed to CCPO Lahore Ghulam Mahmood Dogar — who heads the Punjab government-constituted JIT — four other members of the probe body have also expressed serious reservations over the way he has been trying to influence the investigation process.
Signed by four members, namely: RPO DG Khan Syed Khurram Ali Shah, AIG Monitoring Ehsanullah Chohan, SSP CTD Punjab Naseebullah Khan and SP Pothohar Division Tariq Mehboob, the letter states that no evidence of multiple shooters has emerged so far.
“As such no credible independent evidence has come on record which shows that there were more than one fires/assailants,” reads the report, a copy of which is available with Dawn.
It also said that so far, no data or call records have been found which connect the main accused with any other person involved in planning this crime. “Up till now the role of other accused Waqas is of facilitator only,” the report says.
Discussing the role of the CCPO Lahore, the members claimed that Mr Dogar, who is convener of the JIT, was requested time and again to give importance to “our divergent views on the subject case, but for reasons best known to him our opinion has not been given due weightage”.
Raising another issue in the report, the members said that on Dec 17, one of the JIT members raised serious objections to the quality of investigation and for unknown reasons, he was not called in the next JIT meeting, held on Dec 29.
“We firmly believe that objectivity and partiality cannot be compromised at any cost,” they said, adding that the case is being investigated with extreme care and all the members and support staff have given their best to finalise it purely on merit.
“The matter is still under investigation with no conclusions drawn, making it a subject of discussion on media is very premature,” the members concluded.
Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2023
Asif Chaudhry is a crime and health reporter for Dawn with over two decades of experience. His reporting focuses on uncovering corruption and highlighting systemic failures within the public sector. He can be found on X at @asif_28.
