ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Friday, while condemning the assassination attempt on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan and other party leaders in a long march, said that it is a clear case of religious extremism as the culprit has confessed in his leaked video statement.
Addressing a press conference, he said that we are facing religious extremism and now the seeds of political extremism were being sown. “The attack on Khan is clear-cut a case of religious extremism and our party condemns religious extremism”, he said.
“Yesterday's incident is very sad and condemnable but the path adopted by the PTI is very dangerous”, he said, adding that we consider Imran Khan as a political opponent but he considers us as “an enemy”.
The interior minister said that the statement made by PTI leader Asad Umar yesterday is very condemnable as he leveled allegations without evidence. “PTI leaders incite the public and some of their leaders incite people while waving weapons during protests, such a behavior will not strengthen democracy”, he said.
About the leaking of the video statement of the attacker, he said that making a video of the attacker viral is a dangerous practice. Theattacker involved in the incident has been arrested and his statement was recorded in a police station Gujrat, he said, adding that the first information report (FIR) of the incident has not been registered so far as perhaps the PTI leadership wants to register FIR as per their own wish and desires.
He said that Chief Minister Punjab Pervaiz Elahi suspended the station house officer (SHO) and other staff after the leak of the first part of the video statement of the attacker.
Following the suspension of the SHO and other staff, Friday, another part of the statement of the attacker was released. Of course, Khan must have seen the second video of the statement of the attacker, he said.
The minister said that the allegation leveled by the attacker in his video statement is very dangerous and alarming. “We have stopped this video but media obtained this video,” he said.
He said that as an interior minister he wants to ask Imran Khan and the PTI leadership to change their attitude. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and former premier Nawaz Sharif went for inquiring about the health of PTI chief when Khan had an incident in the past, he said, adding that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is considering going to inquire about Khan’s health and will take a decision in this regard.
He also said that the PTI chief also needs to re-evaluate his security arrangements and made appropriate changes to beef up a level if he wants to continue his long march. We have several times informed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab and PTI’s leadership about the threats. “We have intelligence reports and we have informed PTI’s leadership in this regard”, he said.
To a question, he said that the video statement of the attacker has been leaked from Gujrat where even we cannot appoint a constable.
He said the prime minister has announced the compensation to the families of persons who died during the PTI's long march. He said the family of the man who died in yesterday's firing incident will also be given compensation.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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