PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party on Monday condemned the recent attempt on the life of former prime minister Imran Khan during the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s ‘Haqeeqi Azadi’ march on Islamabad and called for a transparent probe into the gun attack to expose culprits.

ANP central general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain told a presser here that the Wazirabad attack on Mr Imran was a tragic incident, which had been condemned by his party in strong words.

He urged the PTI to cooperate with investigators and medico-legal teams instead of politicising the incident.

Accompanied by central spokesperson for the ANP Zahid Khan, secretary (foreign affairs) Syed Aqil Shah, provincial senior vice-president and MPA Khushdal Khan, vice-president Shahi Khan Shirani and MPA Shagufta Malik, Mr Hussain said his party had political differences with the PTI but it had never supported violence against political rivals.

Party leader Iftikhar urges PTI not politicise incident

He said Mr Imran had made the firing incident controversial through his statements and that the PTI chief’s style of politics was pushing the country towards a civil war.

“A drama is being staged by the PTI to write a medico-legal report of its own choice. I wonder why the team going to secure medico-legal report wasn’t allowed to meet Imran,” he said.

The ANP general secretary said the language used by Mr Imran was not politically correct.

He said a high-level investigation should be held into the gun attack to bring out all facts.

Mr Hussain said accusations and demands before the investigation happened were not appropriate. He said if the PTI chief thought that the party’s ‘long march’ on Islamabad would win him the prime minister’s office back, he was mistaken.

The ANP leader said Mr Imran had denigrated democracy and showed a lack of respect for parliament during his term as the prime minister. He alleged that the PTI government targeted political rivals for revenge and destroyed state institutions.

“Today when he [Imran] has been removed from the prime minister’s office in a constitutional manner, he is now becoming a champion of democracy,” he said.

Mr Hussain wondered why the PTI-backed government in Punjab was delaying the registration of FIR on the Wazirabad attack and said it seemed that Mr Imran’s party was shying away from filing a case.

He condemned the leak of a controversial video of PTI Senator Azam Swati and said the formation of a parliamentary committee to investigate the incident was appreciable.

The ANP leader also demanded that the investigation into the murder of senior journalist Arshad Sharif be made public. He alleged that the PTI tried to use the journalist’s murder to serve its political ends.

Mr Hussain said all institutions shouldn’t cross their constitutional limits and that only Parliament had the powers to make political decisions. He warned if the political crisis continued, the people would suffer more.

“Our country is at a critical juncture, so every step should be taken very carefully,” he said.

The ANP leader said also expressed grave concern over the terror acts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and said that the power struggle was going on in the rest of Pakistan, while the Pakhtuns were raising voice for restoration of peace on their soil.

He said the re-emergence of terrorists in different areas of Pakhtunkhwa was a sign of a new war on Pakhtun’s soil. We have been warning about regrouping of organized terrorist outfits for a long time but no one was ready to pay attention.

Mr Hussain complained about the growing incidence of targeted killings and extortion.

He said his party was not opposed to dialogue but it won’t accept talks held without taking parliament into confidence.

“We [ANP] demand that the facts regarding the government’s talks with the local Taliban be made public,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2022