Daily Times

Unknown assailants opened fire at the residence of former Punjab governor Latif Khosa late on Thursday night, leaving his driver injured, a private TV channel reported.

Soon after the incident was reported, Superintendent of Police (SP) Cantt Owais Shafiq reached the location and police personnel began to collect evidence. According to the initial reports, seven shots were fired at Khosa’s house using rifles and pistols. The bullets hit the door of the house and the car parked in the garage, whereas a bullet also injured the leg of Khosa’s driver, Javed. Police personnel said that the injured driver was shifted to the hospital for medical assistance and his statement will be taken at the hospital for further investigation.

Moreover, the police are using CCTV footage to identify the attackers and clarify whether they were in a car or on motorcycles. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senior leader said that unknown people fired at his house, leaving his driver injured. He added that following the incident, senior lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan reached his residence. He informed till 7 pm on Thursday, his convention was going on wherein they discussed the supremacy of the Constitution and military courts, as well as the judicial system. He added in his speech, he said that Pakistan was made into an “unconstitutional land with unconstitutional governments established in two provinces”.

Khosa maintained that the sloganeering outside the Supreme Court was contemptuous. He said that later, when he was listening to a client’s case at home, there were firing sounds and his driver came in to inform him that he and the car had been shot at. The former governor detailed that when he went outside there were holes in his house door. He said that a Kalashnikov was fired. The PPP leader stated that the lawyer’s movement could not be weakened by such tactics, emphasising that they stood behind the chief justice of Pakistan.

“Such tactics will do nothing. Women have been put in jails, a party has been sidelined. Power is being grossly abused. Such a period has never been seen in history,” he said.

Khosa maintained that he told the police officers that the Punjab inspector general (IG) was “domineering” and held press conferences every day. He claimed that he would file a case against the IG if he arrived at Khosa’s residence. “If the police want to catch someone, no one can escape from them. My son was shot at four months ago. In a city like Lahore, the accused are still not caught. This is the defence, the red zone of Lahore. I speak of the supremacy of the Constitution,” he said.

Khosa alleged that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) was also involved in everything. He vowed that nothing beyond the law would be allowed. On this occasion, Aitzaz Ahsan said that the IG and the deputy inspector general should conduct an inclusive investigation into the May 9 incident and probe why the police and army did not arrest people who were present at the Jinnah House “on the spot”.

“There is strange geo-fencing, shopkeepers and innocent people are picked up,” he said. The lawyer continued that someone should tell the army chief that military courts are illegal. “They understand that lawyers will be afraid of such intimidation incidents,” he claimed and strongly condemned the incident.