Only one shooter who was also a ‘religious fanatic’ was involved in the attempted assassination on Imran Khan: Rana Sanaullah
ISLAMABAD, Jan 05 (SABAH): Categorically rejecting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Senior Vice-President Fawad Chaudhry’s Wednesday’s claim, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan on Thursday insisted that only one shooter — Naveed Bashir— who was also a “religious fanatic” was involved in the attempted assassination on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan.
This was stated by Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah while addressing a ceremony along with Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Mufti Abdul Shakoor and PML-N leader Muhammad Hanif Abbasi in Islamabad on Thursday.
A day earlier, Fawad Chaudhry claimed that the attempted assassination on the former prime minister was carried out by three attackers, all of whom struck him from three different sides.
“Naveed [confessional] statement is 100% correct. No second or third person was involved in the attack,” he added. “It is an incident of single firing and Naveed was religiously motivated,” the security czar said, adding that Moazzam Gondal, a participant in the PTI’s rally, was killed by the bullet of Imran Khan’s guard. He added that the guard must be arrested and interrogated.
Without naming Imran Khan, Rana Sanaullah said: “A fraudster had claimed that four bullets were recovered from his clothes.”
Taking a jab at PTI leaders, the interior minister said that only seven to eight bullets were fired on the occasion and “interestingly they received 30-35 bullets”.
Imran Khan has been staging drama for the past almost two months, he said, adding that it does not take more than two weeks’ time to recover if he had received bullet injuries on his leg.
Rana Sanaullah also accused Imran Khan of running a campaign for the country’s default for the past two months, adding that the “fitna” should be tackled by the power of people’s vote.
The federal minister admitted that the outcomes of talks with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were not good. He further said they should now hold talks with the Afghan government instead of the TTP leadership who has taken refuge in the war-torn country.
The interior minister was asked about the explicit threat issued by the TTP to the PPP and the PML-N for “openly declaring war against the TTP to appease America”.
Rana Sanaullah said that the NSC had clearly resolved that there would be “no talks with any terrorist or militant group”.
He further said that the NSC had concluded that talks, if needed, should be carried out with the Afghan government so that the importance of the Doha agreement, wherein the country had vowed to not allow its soil to be used against others, could be stressed.
“If that is implemented, then the issue of terrorism in Pakistan and other countries will be solved, and Pakistan will be safe if Afghanistan honours its promise.”
The minister was also asked about the Afghan government’s announcement that a network of Daesh militants involved in the attack on Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul had been killed in an operation.
He said that Pakistan had received information in this regard but until it was verified by the interior ministry, it would be treated as mere information. “If it is so, then we welcome it and it is their responsibility to provide security to officials in Afghanistan.”
Meanwhile Rana Sanaullah said that the Federal Government has decided to compile an authentic copy of the Holy Quran with respect to its Arabic text and translation in consultation with provincial Quran Boards to prevent any kind of distortion.
He said prints of this authentic copy of the Holy Quran will be further distributed at district and tehsil levels. He said the federal and all the provincial governments will ensure that there should be authentic copies of Quran’s Arabic text as well as its translation.
He said action will be taken against any attempt to distort the Quran’s text. He said cyber wing of the Federal Investigation Agency and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority will be responsible for checking negative propaganda on the social media.