ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab to register a First Information Report (FIR) of the gun attack on PTI chief Imran Khan within 24 hours. A five-judge bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial directed this while hearing a contempt of court plea filed by the interior ministry against Imran Khan. In its plea, the interior ministry contended that Imran Khan flouted a May 25 order of the apex court that defined the limits for the PTI’s ‘Azadi March’ gathering in Islamabad at the time.
Imran Khan was injured during a gun attack when he was leading the party’s long march in Wazirabad district of Punjab on November 3. Muazzam Nawaz, a PTI supporter, was killed in the attack, while 14 others, were injured. During the hearing, the CJP warned of taking suo-motu notice if the FIR of the attack was not registered within 24-hours.
He also asked the IGP Punjab, who joined the hearing from the Supreme Court’s Lahore registry via video link, to explain why the FIR was not registered, despite the passage of 90-hours of the incident. The IGP Punjab Faisal Shahkar apprised the court that Chief Minister Punjab had some reservations over the registration of the FIR, thus it got delayed. The court hen directed the IGP to work in accordance with the law and register the FIR.