LAHORE: A Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the attack on Lahore Corps Commander House, also known as Jinnah House and other sensitive installations in the city on May 9, has summoned Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan for questioning and to determine his role in the mayhem, today (Tuesday).
Imran Khan has been asked to appear before the JIT at the Qilla Gujjar Singh police headquarters at 4pm. He has been called for questioning in a case registered with the city’s Sarwar Road police station. It is to mention here that Mr Khan has been nominated in the case for allegedly abetting the attackers who ransacked and set ablaze the Jinnah House while he was in police custody.
“Imran Khan is required to attend the office of the DIG Investigation to join the investigation proceedings entrusted to the JTI formed by the Punjab government,” reads the summon notice issued by Lahore DIG (investigation) Kamran Adil, who is heading the JIT. An official source said that the former PM will be questioned to determine the scale of his involvement in the attacks. It is to mention here that a number of other senior PTI leaders and activists have also been nominated in the FIRs.
Imran Khan has been summoned a day after Lahore SSP (investigation) Dr Anoosh Masood visited Kot Lakhpat jail where PTI leader Dr Yasmin Rashid and fashion designer Khadija Shah are being detained. They were arrested in connection with the attacks. The SSP’s visit came after Imran Khan accused the caretaker Punjab government of “maltreating PTI’s women supporters who were in prison”.
SSP Anoosh Masood is heading one of the 53 JITs, notified by the Punjab caretaker government comprising police officers, to conduct investigations into the cases registered in the aftermath of the May 9 attacks across the province. She will probe the attacks on police, Askari Tower and other sensitive installations.
Khan’s arrest earlier this month sparked days of street protests. Later in the month, PTI leaders’ mass exodus started as security forces launched a crackdown against the party in the wake of the attacks on civil and military institutions, including the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi and the Lahore Corps Commander’s House. At least eight people were killed in the violent protests in the country, according to media reports. The former prime minister was removed from office via a vote of no-confidence in April last year.
The sources privy to the matter said that DIG police Kamran Adil-led JIT would grill the PTI chairman on attack on Jinnah House. The Punjab Home Department has constituted several JITs to probe into the attacks and violent protests on May 9, which the army dubbed as a “Black Day”. The deposed premier has been nominated in several FIRs lodged at different police stations in the province.
The JIT is being headed by DIG Adil and comprising Superintendent Police (SP) Investigation City Division Lahore Dr Raza Tanveer, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP)/SP-AVLS Lahore Raza Zahid, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Taimoor Khan and Factory Area Police Station in-charge investigation Muhammad Sarwar.
After receiving the notice by the JIT, Khan consulted his legal team but it could not be decided whether the PTI chairman will appear before the probe body, said the sources. On May 25, an anti-terrorism court in Lahore allowed the handover of 16 suspects involved in vandalising Jinnah House, to the commanding officer so they could be tried under the army laws. ATC Judge Abher Gul Khan accepted the request of the army officer who had sought the custody of the vandals presently detained in Camp Jail, Lahore. They were nominated in two separate cases registered in connection with the attack on Corps Commander House.
The accused include Amar Zohaib, Muhammad Umair, Muhammad Raheem, Zia-ur-Rehman, Waqas Ali, Raees Ahmad, Ali Iftikhar, Ali Raza, Muhammad Arsalan, Faisal Irshad, Arzam Junaid, Muhammad Bilal Hussain, Faheem Haider, ex-PTI MPA Mian Muhammad Akram Usman, Muhammad Hashir Khan, and Hassan Shakir.
The PTI chairman, however, blamed the “agencies men” for arson in some areas during the May 9 violent protests. In a tweet from his official handle on May 15, Khan said his party has “ample amount of evidence” to prove that agencies’ men carried out arson and shootings during the protests to blame it on PTI.
On May 25, Khan requested the top court to declare what he called the imposition of undeclared martial law in provinces of Punjab, Balochistan, KP and Islamabad as unconstitutional, unlawful and without any effect and all actions taken in pursuant thereof void.
Imran Khan, through his lawyer Hamid Khan, filed the petition under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, making the Federation through the defence, interior and Cabinet Division secretaries, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, PMLN Quaid Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Punjab Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi and others as respondents.
He also prayed the Supreme Court to appoint a Judicial Commission comprising Supreme Court judges to probe into the horrendous and terrible incidents of May 9-10 and the actions leading to those unfortunate incidents, which caused the loss of precious human lives of dozens of persons and damage to the state and private property, including Jinnah House and other civilian installations, and fix responsibility and recommend action against persons involved.
