Islamabad [Pakistan], January 4 (ANI): Pakistan’s Joint Investigation Team (JIT), investigating the assassination attempt at former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan, found that the firing was carried out from three different shooting sites, Dawn reported.

The JIT, formed by the Punjab government, found that Imran Khan was shot by three bullets on the container-mounted-truck during the PTI’s Azadi March in Wazirabad.

The head of the JIT team headed by Lahore Capital City Police Officer Additional IG Ghulam Mahmood Dogar said, “The JIT claimed, in its findings, that Imran Khan was hit by three bullets on the container-mounted-truck during the PTI’s Azadi March in Wazirabad”. He said that the findings of the JIT were almost complete and a report would be issued soon after receiving some pending reports from the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA), reported Dawn.

To a question, the official source said the JIT findings confirmed that no injury was reported from the official weapons of the police personnel deployed at the venue of the rally in Wazirabad. The forensic analysis of all the official weapons of the police personnel was carried out by the PFSA. He said the JIT also noticed some mismanagement regarding the security arrangements at the PTI’s march in Wazirabad.

Following the initial reports of the security lapse by the police, the Punjab government has formed another high-level inquiry committee, which is separately investigating the matter, the official source said.

PTI chief was injured after a man opened fire at him in Gujranwala near the party’s reception camp on November 3. The former prime minister sustained injuries on his leg and has been shifted to a hospital for treatment, Geo News reported.

After the attack, Faisal Sultan, the former assistant to the prime minister on health, said that PTI chairman Imran Khan’s condition is stable. “But according to X-rays and scans, there are fragments of bullets in his legs and there’s a chip in his tibia shin bone,” he told media persons outside the Shaukat Khanum Hospital in Lahore, The Dawn reported.

Sultan added that Imran has been moved to the operation theatre for further evaluation and removal of bullet fragments. The Punjab police have confirmed that seven people were injured and a person was killed during the firing incident.

Hours after the assassination attempt against Imran Khan, people held protests in front of the Corps Commander House in Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. PTI senior leader Asad has demanded that all three people — the premier, the interior minister, and the senior military officer — should be removed from their offices. (ANI)

Pak SC permits Election Commission to continue contempt proceedings against Imran Khan

Islamabad [Pakistan], January 3 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday permitted the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to continue its proceedings against former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Asad Umar and Fawad Chaudhry, in cases related to the contempt of the electoral body, Dawn reported.

The three-member Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Ayesha A Mali issued the orders. According to Dawn, the seven-page document issued today said that the proceedings initiated by the ECP under Section 10 of the Election Act, 2017, against the respondents “have been allowed to continue.”

“But ECP has been hereby restrained from passing final orders under the said section,” according to Dawn. The order stated that the high courts had not stopped the commission from proceeding in the matter initiated by it and the respondents had raised objections regarding the “alleged incompetence” of the officer who issued the show cause notices. “As these objections have been raised in the pending proceedings under section 10 before the ECP, the same are required to be considered and decided by it before passing any final order,” Dawn quoted the court order as saying.

“We hold that the petitioner [ECP] may continue its proceedings in accordance with law including, by decisions on the objections raised on behalf of the respondents,” it added.

In August and September, the ECP issued contempt notices exercising its power of contempt against PTI Chief Imran Khan and party leaders Asad Umar, Fawad Chaudhry, Mian Shabbir Ismail and Danial Khalid Khokhar for allegedly using “intemperate” language against the chief election commissioner and ECP, as per the Dawn report.

The ECP had asked PTI leaders to appear in person or through their counsels before the commission to explain their position. The PTI leaders did not appear before ECP and challenged the notices of commission and contempt proceedings in various high courts.

The PTI leaders also sought declaratory relief from the charges from the high courts. In a decision announced on Tuesday, the Supreme Court disposed of the ECP’s decision. Separately, the Election Commission of Pakistan warned the PTI leaders of issuing their arrest warrants if they did not appear before the commission on January 17 to face the contempt proceedings, according to Dawn A four-member Election Commission bench heard the case on Tuesday. (ANI)