LAHORE, Nov 10: Governor Salmaan Taseer has requested the Lahore High Court chief justice to take suo motu notice of the report of the FIA inquiry into the alleged plot to assassinate him (Khwaja Muhammad Sharif). In its report, the agency has mentioned a lack of cooperation by the Punjab government officials and said a sub-inspector was coerced by his superiors to make a ‘false confession’ that he had written the secret report about the ‘plot’.

Mr Taseer said this at a news conference here at the Governor’s House on Wednesday. He said the chief justice must take notice of the attitude of the provincial government towards the inquiry conducted into the newspaper report which had alleged the governor had conspired to get Justice Sharif assassinated.

“This is very important because of the seriousness of the case, and especially when the Punjab law minister is also accusing me of intending to do something wrong during the forthcoming Muharram,” he said, adding the FIA inquiry report had declared the report of the alleged plot to assassinate the LHC chief justice bogus.

He said the FIA report had mentioned that Secretary to the Chief Minister Dr Tauqir Shah and Prosecution Secretary Rana Maqbool did not comply with the notices served on them by the inquiry officer to appear before him.

“Since the alleged plot was reportedly disclosed through a source report of the special branch, I fail to understand the reasons behind the provincial government’s failure to assist the investigating officer in unearthing each and very detail of the alleged plot,” he said.

The governor said the FIA had declared that the special branch report, which had warned of a possible assassination attempt at the chief justice, was unverifiable because proof of its dispatch by the office of special branch additional IG had not been made available.

It said it was yet to be ascertained as to whether the source report was an official document of the special branch, or otherwise. The mere fact that such a report was received by the Chief Minister’s Secretariat did not confirm its official status.

The CM’s Secretariat had not provided any documented evidence to date in support of the claim that the same report was received from the office of the special branch IG.

The FIA report said the conflicting statements by the then special branch head Col Ehsan led to the implication of the agency’s Director Research and Analysis Shahid Mahmood and a Sub-Inspector Shakeel Hassan. The SI, a cancer patient, was tortured, threatened and then offered bribe to fall in line and ‘confess’ before the enquiry commission that he had issued the source report, it said.

It said the Punjab government did not cooperate with the FIA inquiry officer. Chief Minister’s PSO Ahmad Raza Sarwar, SP CIA Umar Virk, SP Sarfraz Virk and DSP Fayyaz Ahmed also did not appear before the inquiry officer despite several reminders, the report mentioned.

The governor said that keeping in view the findings of the FIA inquiry report, he had requested the LHC chief justice that the alleged death threats to SI Shakeel Hassan from his superiors, and coaxing and coercing him (SI) into making a false confession that he had written the source report needed to be taken cognizance of. He also sought stern directions to the provincial government to provide proper security to the SI and his family.

The chief justice must also take notice of the non-compliance of FIA summons by the Punjab government officials, including the chief minister’s secretary and prosecution secretary, Mr Taseer said, adding that the CJ must also determine as to who was responsible for leaking the alleged report from the Chief Minister’s Secretariat and playing it up in the media.

The governor alleged the report was leaked to the reporter by Dr Tauqir on telephone, and it was the chief minister who asked his secretary and other officers not to cooperate with the FIA inquiry officer. This was done to establish that Punjab was an independent unit and was not answerable to anyone else in the country, he said.

He also alleged the same ‘group’ was pushing the province back to the 1997-99 situation when extra-judicial killings were rampant. He said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was himself accused of ordering an extra-judicial killing in Sabzazaar during this period but he got his name cleared in the case by ‘bribing or coercing’ the complainant.

Mr Taseer said Shahbaz Sharif had recommended medal for former Gujranwala RPO Zulfikar Cheema but when the PML-N lost a bye-election in the area, the officer was transferred following lynching of two brothers in Sialkot.

The governor alleged Rana Maqbool had tortured some relatives of the Sharifs in Chung police station who had differences with them. Mr Maqbool also falsely implicated a man (Tipu) in the murder case of Hakeem Saeed to frame a political party in the killing, he alleged, saying the conspiracy was later exposed by former IB head Col Iqbal Khan Niazi.

Mr Taseer said it should be found out whether Dr Tauqir had leaked the report to the reporter on his own or under directions from the chief minister.

He said Dr Tauqir was a federal government employee, but it could not proceed against him because he was at the disposal of the Punjab government.