Lahore, Oct 24: A high court in Pakistan has rejected a bail petition of a prime suspect in an attack on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former prime minister Imran Khan during a road show two years ago.
A Lahore High Court’s two-member bench headed by Justice Shahbaz Ali Rizvi on Wednesday heard the bail petition of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) activist Muhammad Naveed, who in November 2022 had allegedly opened fire on Khan during a rally in Punjab’s Wazirabad city.
Khan was shot three times in the left leg, one of his supporters was killed and over a dozen others, including two lawmakers, were injured in the attack, which drew condemnation from across the country and abroad.
A prosecutor argued that the suspect was nominated in the FIR and arrested red-handed from the crime scene. He said Naveed was also identified through CCTV footage and eyewitnesses.
The suspect’s lawyer asked the court to grant bail to him due to insufficient evidence implicating the suspect.
After hearing the arguments, the court dismissed the post-arrest bail plea of the suspect.
Khan had accused Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, then interior minister Rana Sanaullah and ISI top officer Maj-Gen Faisal Naseer of plotting his assassination. All three had rejected the allegation.
“I ca n prove in an investigation that these (three) men twice tried to kill me,” Khan had claimed and questioned “are military officers above the law?”
The 72-year-old cricketer-turned-politician had blamed the powerful military and the Sharif family for his ouster as premier through a no-confidence motion in April 2022 and later blamed them for his assassination attempt. (PTI)
