ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Monday gave police a 24-hour deadline to register a case regarding a gun attack on former prime minister Imran Khan’s protest march, observing that a delay in it could result in destruction of evidence.
Khan received gunshot wounds to his legs as his anti-government march to Islamabad last week came under a gun attack near Wazirabad city, which the ex-premier and his supporters have described as an assassination attempt.
The directives by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial were issued during the hearing of a case at the Supreme Court’s Lahore registry on Monday.
The hearing was attended by Punjab Inspector General (IG) Faisal Shahkar and Provincial Advocate General Ahmad Awais via a video link.
“We will take suo motu [in the case] if an FIR (First Information Report) is not registered within 24 hours,” the chief justice said.
Khan has accused three people of devising a plan to assassinate him, naming PM Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and intelligence official Maj. Gen. Faisal Naseer.
In a news conference on Sunday, Khan said the police were not registering the FIR over the nomination of Maj-Gen Naseer, who is the counterintelligence chief of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, in the application.
Khan has not provided evidence to support his allegation, which has been vehemently denied by the government and the military.
“The delay in the FIR means the evidence in the case may get destroyed,” the chief justice told the Punjab police chief.
“Why isn’t the FIR registered so far? What are the reasons?”
IG Shahkar informed the top judge that the police and the Punjab provincial had differing opinions on the registration of the FIR.
“The police should proceed as per the law even if the Punjab government has a different opinion,” Chief Justice Bandial said.
“This court will provide judicial protection to the police.”
In response to the development, Khan’s aide Chaudhry Fawad Hussain called the directives the “first step toward justice.”
“God willing, justice will prevail,” he said on Twitter.
Khan, who was ousted in a parliamentary no-trust vote in April, set out on a march to the capital, demanding early elections in the country.
The march, which came to a halt after the attack on the ex-premier on November 3, will resume Tuesday from the Wazirabad city.
Separately, Khan wrote a letter to President Arif Alvi over the alleged misconduct of military officials, including ISI DG Lt-Gen Nadeem Anjum and military spokesman Maj-Gen Babar Iftikhar, with regard to PM House wiretaps, “targeting of the leader of the largest and perhaps the only federal political party” at a recent press conference and custodial torture of citizens among other things.
“Mr President, you are the Head of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and you must protect its democracy and its Constitution. No person or State institution can be above the law of the land,” Khan stated in the letter, a copy of which was shared by party affiliate Shireen Mazari on Twitter.
“We have been seeing a massive abuse of citizens at the hands of rogue elements within State organizations, including custodial torture and abductions all carried out with impunity.”
He requested the president to “act now to stop the abuse of power and violations of our laws and of the Constitution.”
The ex-premier, who was once considered close to the country’s powerful military, became critical of top military officials after being removed from office in April.
Since then, he has frequently criticized the military for not blocking his ouster which he says was part of a United States-backed “foreign conspiracy.”
Washington, Khan’s opponents, including PM Shehbaz Sharif, and the military deny the claim.