Firing on Imran Khan carried out from 4 sites, 3 more shooters involved: Probe team

Lahore, January 3

The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the assassination attempt on Pakistan’s ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the firing was carried out from four different sites and three more shooters, other than the arrested suspect, were involved in the attack.

Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), suffered bullet injuries in the right leg on November 3 when two gunmen fired a volley of bullets at him and others standing on a container-mounted truck in the Wazirabad area (some 150-km from Lahore), where he was leading the long march to press for snap polls.

“Shots were fired by three unknown shooters, from unknown weapons from a considerable height other than the gun attack carried out by the suspect, Naveed Meher, arrested from the spot,” the Dawn newspaper reported quoting a member of the JIT on Tuesday.

The JIT, led by Lahore Police chief Ghulam Mahmood Dogar, said Khan was hit by three bullets on the container-mounted-truck during the protest rally. A total of 13 people had suffered bullet injuries during the attack.

The JIT also pinpointed “some mismanagement” in the security arrangements at the PTI’s rally.

Earlier, Punjab Home Minister Omar Sarfraz Cheema had said that the gun attack on Khan was an “organised one and well-thought-out conspiracy”.

Naveed is a “trained assassin” and he was present at the crime scene with his accomplices, the minister said.

He said Naveed also failed a polygraph test. Naveed had told police he wanted to kill Khan as music was played during Azan time during his rally.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister’s Special Assistant Attaullah Tarar on Tuesday moved the Lahore High Court, challenging the “illegal detention” of two PML-N workers—Mudassar and Ahsan—in connection with the gun attack on Khan.

Talking to reporters outside the court, Tarar said the JIT has illegally detained the two PML-N workers.

Prime suspect Naveed and his cousin Muhammad Waqas are in the JIT custody.

Khan, 70, had blamed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Major General Faisal Naseer of ISI for hatching a plot to assassinate him.

The Punjab Police had registered the FIR in connection with the assassination attempt on Khan but didn’t name the high profile suspects in it.

Khan had dismissed the FIR, saying without the mention of Sharif, Sanaullah and Faisal it is a mere “piece of trash”.

The Punjab Police said they nabbed Naveed from the crime scene and he had confessed to his crime.

Khan had claimed that Naveed is a trained shooter and there was another shooter who opened fire on him from another direction.

The JIT has so far recorded the statements of the policemen and PTI workers who were present close to Khan at the time of attack on him.

Khan is recovering from his wounds and is currently staying at his Lahore’s Zaman Park residence.