Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday wrote a letter to Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Atta Bandial to form a judicial commission on the firing incident against Imran Khan during a long march.
According to the 24News HD TV channel, earlier today, the PM wrote a letter to the CJP to constitute a judicial commission on the matter of investigations of the senior TV anchor Arshad Sharif’s murder in Kenya.
In the second letter to the CJP, the PM appealed to form the judicial commission comprising all available judges of the Supreme Court.
The PM said in the letter that the commission may consider five questions in particular including 1) Which law enforcement agencies were responsible for protecting the caravan? 2) Are prevailing safety measures and standard operating procedures (SOPs) implemented to protect the caravan, 3) What are the facts of the accident, 4) What are the facts behind the reported presence of multiple shooters, the counterfire, the total number of victims, and the nature of these victims' injuries, and 5) Did law enforcement agencies and administrative authorities adopt prevailing investigative procedures.
In the continuity of these questions, PM Shehbaz in his letter further said that if it did not happen, what flaws and weaknesses of the regulation came to light? Which administrative authorities, law enforcement agencies, and provincial government officials were held responsible for these regulatory deficiencies?
The PM’s letter further said that are there deliberate obstructions in the process of investigating the incident, and if obstacles are being put in place, who are these elements? And why are they doing this?
He also said in the letter that was it an assassination plot that really aimed to kill the PTI chairman or was it just a one-man act. And, who are the elements responsible for either of these two situations?
PM Shehbaz said in the interest of the rule of law, the federal government will be grateful to SC to act on this request. He also assured the apex court that in achieving this goal, the federal government will provide full support to the commission as due to the tragic incident of firing at Imran Khan's procession in Wazirabad, the country is suffering from a state of panic and a crisis of law and order.
Shehbaz Sharif maintained that the PTI leaders are making poisonous speeches, the state is in chaos due to violent riots and the lives and property of citizens are at risk while this is being covered in Pakistan and international media.
About the issue of registration of the FIR of the incident, the PM said in his letter that no FIR was filed after 72 hours and the PTI-led Punjab government, unfortunately, did not take into account the legal requirements that are followed in such cases.
It is unfortunate that the crime scene was not preserved and the container on which it happened was not taken into custody for forensics, the PM said in the letter adding that PTI chairman Imran Khan's medico-legal report was not even done.
Giving more details of the incident, the PM said Imran Khan was taken to a private hospital which is not a medico-legal procedure as per law so there are chances that the Punjab government and its officials could tamper with evidence of the incident.
The PM's letter said the federal government has already written a letter to the provincial administration in this regard.
He said in the letter that under the auspices of the governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, miscreants are carrying out violent attacks on private and government buildings, Punjab Governor’s House, and other places while a dirty campaign of character assassination and baseless allegations is being waged against state institutions, especially the armed forces.
PM Shehbaz said in the letter that armed forces are being accused of conspiring with the federal government so, in the opinion of the federal government, it is necessary to form a Supreme Court’s Commission for the purpose of ascertaining the correct facts and public confidence.
Shehbaz Sharif said the SC has always played a key role in the supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law and the current situation poses a serious threat to public order and state security. So it is the request to form a judicial commission comprising all the available judges of the Supreme Court, the PM’s letter concluded.