Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Friday asked PTI leadership including Imran Khan to review their security issues and make them more effective to avoid any mishap.

Addressing a press conference here, the minister again condemned the attack on Imran Khan and other PTI leaders and said that we do not want to scare or stop this long march but it is necessary to bring these matters to notice.

The minister cited the statement of PTI leader Asad Omer told Imran Khan about security threats, but he (Imran Khan) said Allah Almighty would take care. “Ignorance towards security threats by Imran Khan can create unfortunate incidents in future too and we appeal to them to change their attitude and arrange their matters accordingly,” the minister said.

“We have no objection to their protest, and long march, we are not afraid, but these are the issues which we want to bring to their notice as these are very important,” the minister added. The minister declared it as sad that PTI chairman Imran Khan blamed people for his attempted assassination without any investigation or proof.

“Not only the government condemned this incident but prayed for the health of all wounded persons including Imran Khan because we consider him as our political opponent not enemy,” he added. This status of enemy is given by Imran Khan to his opponents, not by us and his stubbornness and insistence towards such an attitude is really condemnable.

He said that police arrested the accused red-handed from the spot and a PTI worker namely Ibtisam assisted in this arrest. In a police station in Gujrat, the statement of the accused was recorded but First Information Report (FIR) had not been deliberately registered into this incident as it would be lodged after managing it.

The minister said that the first part of the statement of the accused was released last day in which the accused told about the reasons behind this attack. The Punjab government and its Chief Minister suspended the entire staff of the police station but the second part of the statement was also issued after their suspension.

The second part of this statement was aired on media and Imran Khan and PTI leaders would have also watched this video. The accusation of the assailant are very much condemnable and we tried to stop further dissemination of this video because it describes about certain statement of Imran Khan and a claim of a woman, he added.

The accused termed that he committed this act due to his belief on `Prophethood and Nabuwat’. It could be more damaging if this video got more viral and religious fanatics could get opportunity through it, he said. “Therefore, we appeal PTI leadership including Imran Khan to review their security affairs after considering the importance and seriousness of this issue and amend their behavior”. He cited the statement of Asad Umer who advised Imran Khan to take threats serious as situation is not good but the latter did not care about it.

Such attitude could be more damaging if not amended, the minister said. The minister said that meeting of senior leadership of party presided over by the Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif was held on Friday which expressed sorrow over the tragic incident of last day and strongly condemned it.

The meeting reviewed different measures in the wake of this incident and considered as how hatred, revenge and polarization could be eliminated and reduced which has unfortunately deepened. It was also considered as how such thoughts could be converted into tolerance and patience. He said that meeting reviewed as those forces, promoting intolerance and converting political differences into enmity, could be brought on right path. He said that those following this path of destruction should understand that they could not remain safe as they are also on same track.

The last day incident, he said, is very much condemnable and sorrowful. There is no compensation to life, however, Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has announced compensation amount for family members of four persons who lost their lives during this long march.

He said that compensation amount was earlier announced for female journalist while Prime Minister has announced compensation for family members of remaining three persons as a sympathy and relief for them to live an independent life. He said that attitude of PTI leadership including Imran Khan and second tier leadership is very much painful after this incident. He said that Asad Umer gave a statement on behalf of Imran Khan to name three persons for their alleged involvement in it without any evidence.

Some of PTI leaders incited people and asked them to come out and take revenge through setting fire. They exhibited weapons and used threatened language about not sparing their opponents which is unfair, the minister said.

He said that Imran Khan has been using the same threatening language at containers from 2014 to 2022. He said that such attitudes are saddening and these would not lead us towards any right direction. This attitude could drag us from democratic behaviors and not useful to promote democracy. To a question about the government’s intention to visit to inquire health of PTI chairman Imran Khan, Rana Sanaullah said that Mian Nawaz Sharif visited him in such an incident occurred in past.

But this time the response from the PTI leadership is not positive and they are accusing the government for the incident due to which Prime Minister has not yet decided about the visit. Responding to a question on video leak of the accused of incident, Rana Sanaullah said that non-registration of First Information Report of this serious incident is a matter of great concern but video leak is matter of more concern.

He said that arresting and investigation of the accused is the duty of policy but leaking the recorded statement of accused is a serious lapse on the part of the concerned authorities. The matter should be investigated that either the video was leaked or released by the police authorities. “The entire responsibility in both cases lies on the Punjab government”, he said.

It is matter of great concern that the second part of the video was leaked after the suspension of the whole staff of the concerned police station on the first video leak. He mentioned that the second part of the video was highly sensitive in which the accused referred to the claims of prophethood which is damaging and instigating religious extremism. Referring to this incident as a clear case of religious extremism, he said that considering the prevailing situation of religious extremism in the country, the video leak of such content becomes more alarming.

He said that the government has tried to remove the content of the second video of the accused from all the social media networks in which he was not only giving statements but arguing on his point of view. About playing his role for dialogue between government and PTI, he said although the government wanted to have dialogue with the PTI for the peaceful solution of the issue but they responded through abusing language and were not ready to go for dialogue.

The federal government has written to the provincial authorities to form JIT comprising overall senior officials to investigate the incident. “We are already facing religious extremism and now another challenge is to tackle political extremism. How can we create a space for dialogue in such a situation”, he asked.

The minister said that we have repeatedly warned the PTI leadership about the threats and asked them to limit their public exposure on container and place bullet proof protection shield during address. But they assumed if the government is afraid of their long march.

He said that providing security to the long march was the responsibility of the concerned provincial government. “If there is a lapse in that security; the responsibility lies on the Punjab government”, he added. About issuance of Arshad Sharif’s postmortem report, the interior minister said that the issuance of report is the discretion of the investigation team and if the family of martyred needs the copy, they can get through court.