The government has established a JIT to investigate the attack on the courts and law enforcement officials.
According to the minister of information, the JIT will investigate who is responsible for inciting the general public against state institutions.
ISLAMABAD: On Tuesday, the PML-N-led government coalition decided to form a highly-capable Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to look into the attack on courts and law enforcement personnel stationed there to protect the capital’s judicial complex when former premier Imran Khan was scheduled to appear.
The ruling coalition decided to take tough measures against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and launch legal action against the party, its leadership, and its supporters for persistently contesting the authority of the state the day before the decision to form a JIT to look into violent attacks by “armed groups” on the police and courts.
PTI Chairman Imran Khan and more than a dozen other PTI leaders were the targets of a first information report (FIR) filed by the Islamabad Police on March 18 for allegedly beating police officers, looting, torching vehicles, and causing mayhem within and outside the Federal Court Complex (FJC).
When Imran came at the FJC to attend a hearing in the Toshakhana case, the altercations had been going on for hours. The PTI leader was present at the FJC’s gate but was unable to join court proceedings because of the protesters’ attack on law enforcement, which may appear surprising given that the judge had requested Imran’s participation through a court official.
In addition to threatening legal action, the federal government’s six-hour meeting of the parties on March 18 under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hinted at the possibility of banning PTI because of the party’s alleged role in attacks on state institutions like the army, judiciary, and law enforcement agencies.
The attacks on the police and Rangers, who were carrying out court orders when they went to Imran’s Zaman Park mansion in Lahore and when Imran arrived with his supporters in a court in Islamabad the other day, were allegedly carried out on the PTI chairman’s orders.
The interior ministry has prepared a summary for the formation of the powerful JIT, and it will be sent to the prime minister on March 19 for his formal approval, according to Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb, just one day after the PML-N and its allies’ marathon meeting at the Prime Minister House.
According to a spokesperson for the administration, the JIT would consist of senior police and interior ministry employees, as well as agents from the intelligence community. The attack and injuries suffered by the police at the Islamabad Judicial Complex will be investigated by the JIT, according to the information minister, and a report will be submitted within seven days.
The minister continued by saying that the JIT would gather information regarding the “petrol bomb attacks” as well as the involvement of “trained militants” from outlawed groups in the assault on the courthouse.
According to Aurangzeb, all evidence of PTI supporters smashing down the judicial complex’s gate, attacking law enforcement with stones, and torching motorcycles and other vehicles will also be gathered.
She added that the JIT report would cover all facets of vandalism, arson, trespassing, and violence and that the investigators will also ascertain who fired the teargas shells on the police and who supplied them with the teargas shells.
The information minister also said that the JIT will identify people who had incited the public to oppose government institutions and to use violence against such institutions. She stated that the government will pursue additional legal action in light of the JIT report.
In addition to taking severe measures against PTI, the coalition government on Monday called for a joint session of parliament on March 22 (tomorrow) to make crucial decisions to protect the writ of the state.
The ruling alliance also resolved during its Monday meeting that individuals waging a smear campaign against the army, its commander, and the Lasbela martyrs from overseas would face legal repercussions. They claimed that this behavior was improper in any culture and that “freedom of speech” does not apply in this situation.
Also, the alliance leaders raised worries over the punishment meted out to the PTI chairman by the courts, saying: “The treatment of Imran Khan and his comrades is developing the notion that the scales of justice are not equal”. “Two standards of justice in one country are not acceptable,” read the official statement.
