ISLAMABAD    -    A day after the Pun­jab government recon­stituted for the fourth time the joint investiga­tion team (JIT) to probe into the gun attack on former prime minis­ter Imran Khan in Wa­zirabad, the federal gov­ernment on Wednesday raised objections over the composition of the investigation team.

The Ministry of Interior in an official communica­tion has told the Punjab Home Department that the constitution of JIT did tion of JIT did not meet the criteria as required under Section 19 (1) of the Anti-Ter­rorism Act (ATA), 19971, ac­cording to a copy of the letter available with The Nation. The letter said that the con­stitution of JIT under the ATA requires inclusion of an offi­cer of any other investiga­tion agency including an in­telligence agency. But the JIT comprises five members, all belonging to the Punjab po­lice, with no representation of any other investigation/intelligence agency, it reads. The ministry told the provin­cial government that the fed­eral intelligence agencies in­cluding Intelligence Bureau and Inter-Services Intelli­gence (ISI) should be made part of the JIT for a thorough and transparent probe into the matter. On November 15, the Home Department had constituted the new JIT and Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ghulam Mah­mood Dogar was appointed as its head. All other mem­bers of the JIT belonged to the Police Service of Paki­stan. The interior ministry letter also raised objections over the nomination of Dog­ar as the head of JIT saying that the federal government had suspended the police officer and the Federal Ser­vice Tribunal only gave the additional inspector gener­al of police temporary relief by allowing him to contin­ue with his position as CCPO Lahore. It added that the po­lice officer should not head the JIT under the given cir­cumstances as a transparent probe could not be expect­ed from him. On November 3, Chairman PTI Imran Khan had survived an assassina­tion attempt in Punjab’s Wa­zirabad city when he was leading his party’s anti-gov­ernment long march. On No­vember 7, the Wazirabad po­lice had registered the case under Section 302, 324, 440 of Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of ATA 1997.