ISLAMABAD     -       A day after former
prime minister Imran
Khan survived an assassination attempt, the
federal government on
Friday described the
attack a case of religious
extremism and said that
the PTI-led Punjab government was responsible for any security lapse. The coalition  government led by PML-N also
raised questions on the unnecessary delay in the registration
of first information report (FIR)
of the armed attack despite the
alleged attacker has given a
confessional statement.
Addressing a press conference here, Interior Minister
Rana Sanaullah said that the
second leaked video statement
of the attacker while in the custody of police was very damaging and clearly reflected that
the attack was a case of “religious extremism.”
He at the same time clarified
that the ruling PML-N considered Chairman PTI Imran Khan
as its “political rival and not
an enemy”. He said that details
about the under custody attacker would surprise many as he
was linked with some religious
extremist group.
The interior minister underlined that the reasons described
by the accused for his action
were very alarming. “After the
video went viral, it is possible
that such narratives encourage
more religious extremists,” he
said, adding that the confessional statement should not have
been leaked to media.
Raising questions over the delay in registration of FIR, the
minister said that the provincial
government and PTI might be
trying to manage some things,
which is very concerning.
He said following the leak of
the first part of the suspect’s
statement, the entire police station had been suspended and
even then another video has
emerged. “The matter needs to
be investigated.”
He said the allegations levelled by the attacker in the video
could enhance the threat for the
PTI chief. He requested the PTI
leadership to change their behaviours to avoid another such
accident. He also asked Khan
to review his security and added that the purpose was not to
scare PTI to stop its long march.
Rana Sanaullah said intelligence reports suggesting threat
to life of PTI chairman had been
conveyed to PTI but the same
were ignored. He further revealed that Khan had been
asked to use bulletproof shield
for his container but he turned
a deaf ear to the advice.
He deplored that Khan blamed
‘three individuals’ for his attempted assassination without
any investigation or evidence.
“This is the same language
that former prime minister has
used since 2014 from his container,” he said. He asserted this
behaviour was not in the interest of democracy.
He criticized PTI leaders for
instigating people, after the attack, to take revenge from the
political rivals, and slammed
a provincial minister in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for waving a
gun in the air to take “revenge”
from him.
Meanwhile, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb while addressing a press conference here sid
that Imran Khan might hire services of any international agency including the Scotland Yard
for investigating the firing incident but he had to become part
of the investigation and must
present evidence to prove his
allegations against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior
Minister Rana Sanaullah.
She refuted the allegations
levelled by Imran Khan on the
prime minister, Rana Sanaullah
and others about their involvement in the firing incident occurred near Wazirabad the other day.
“How Imran Khan, who has a
government in Punjab where
this incident took place, can
demand resignation of these
three persons prior to any investigation into the matter,” she
wondered, adding the provincial government was responsible for the attack which did not
take prerequisite measures despite the threat alerts.
Marriyum asked Imran Khan
to abstain from hurling allegations without any proof, and let
the police to lodge an FIR into
the case.
The minister alleged that Imran Khan was pressurizing the
police to ensure registration of
an FIR as per his will. His party workers had attacked the police station in Gujrat where the
accused had been kept and recorded three statements so far.
She said Imran Khan was not
letting the police to register FIR
of the case as he knew that he
was lying altogether. He even
went to Shaukat Khanum Hospital for operation and so far not
visited any government hospital for obtaining the medico-legal report which was a legal requirement in a criminal case.
“We are saying that the investigation should be done but Imran Khan was saying no,” she
said, adding there was the best
forensic laboratory in the Punjab which was set up by Shehbaz Sharif while being the provincial chief minister.
She categorically stated that
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Rana
Sanaullah had nothing to do
with the attack on Imran Khan.
Marriyum said the chief minister of Punjab had to answer to
the public as the people were
looking toward him.
She asked as to why Imran
Khan ignored the threat alerts
and what were the reasons behind slackness of the Punjab
government which did not take
any precautionary measure despite prior warnings.
The minister asked Imran
Khan as to why he did not call
off the long march on receiving
threat alerts which could have
saved the innocent lives.
The minister urged the PTI to
refrain from using religious card
over the incident as the country
had already incurred massive
loss and spilled enough blood
due to such type of politics.
“We need to sit together and
chalk out strategy to curb extremism and growing intolerance,” she added.
She regretted that one of the
PTI leaders was inciting people
for the revenge which showed
that the party wanted bloodshed in the country.