ISLAMABAD: Amid intensifying political acrimony between the government and PML-N, the interior ministry instructed Islamabad police on Thursday to reopen investigations against Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif over the storming of the Supreme Court building in 1997.

According to sources, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has directed police to reopen the inquiry and interrogate the PML-N chief and the Punjab chief minister.

The sources said Senior Superintendent of Police Mohammad Yousuf Malik, who hails from the prime minister’s constituency and has served as SSP in Multan, had been asked to interrogate the Sharif brothers and submit a report as soon as possible.

The minister asked the city administration to hold an inquiry, fix responsibility and also address the matter of non-completion of the police probe in 1999.  Acting on the minister’s order, Chief Commissioner Tariq Mehmood Pirzada asked Deputy Commissioner Amir Ahmed Ali to conduct inquiry, the sources said.

The sources said that one Shahid Orakazi had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking action against people involved in the attack.

A police superintendent named Tamour Ali Khan had investigated the matter but could not complete it because the Sharif brothers were in custody at the time and ‘out of his reach’. The SP submitted an incomplete investigation report to the interior ministry.—Munawer Azeem