LAHORE, Jan 4: The Anti-Terrorism Court, Rawalpindi, will take up Governor Salmaan Taseer’s assassination case, though he has been shot in the capital (Islamabad) police precinct.

“The entire matter of investigation and prosecution about this case will independently be dealt by the Islamabad police and federally-governed investigation agencies under the supervision of the Interior Ministry,” a source in the Punjab government told Dawn on Tuesday.

He said as the murder of Salmaan Taseer was a high-profile one, the case would be registered under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA)-1997.

“Section 7-ATA is applicable to creating a sense of panic, fear and insecurity in society. So the criminal who killed the governor committed this offence under Section 302 also created panic, fear and insecurity in society,” the source elaborated.

He said according to rules the investigation officer of the Kohsar police station (Islamabad) and the senior officials of the federally-governed agencies would carry out an exhaustive probe.

As for the witnesses, he said, as the direct evidence was available because of the accused person’s confession about his offence, the investigators had now to reach up to other facts such as conspiracy or abetment, facilitation or other internal or external elements behind the curtain in the wake of this tragic incident. He said after completion of the probe and challan into the incident by the federal agencies, the case would be forwarded to the Rawalpindi ATC for speedy trial of the accused. — Khalid Hasnain