LAHORE: The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) investigating the Jinnah House attack on May 9, summoned Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi and four other party leaders to the Lahore Deputy Inspector General’s (Investigation) office at 7pm today (Wednesday) to join the investigation into the case.
The notices, dated June 20, have also been issued to former federal minister Hammad Azhar and Imran’s nephew Hassan Khan Niazi.
They have been called for questioning in a case registered with the Sarwar Road police station against the attack. Imran had been nominated in the case for allegedly abetting the attackers who ransacked and set fire to the Jinnah House when he was in prison.
According to the notices, the accused persons are “required to attend the office of DIG/Investigation, Lahore Abbot Road, Qila Gujjar Singh, Lahore on June 21 at 7pm to join the investigation proceedings”.
A similar notice has also been issued to former minister Murad Saeed, but it requires him to appear before the police on June 23.
Court bars police from arresting Imran
Earlier on Wednesday, the PTI chief was granted protective bail in three cases related to the May 9 vandalism and the murder of senior Supreme Court lawyer Abdul Razzaq Shar in Quetta.
On Tuesday, an anti-terrorism court in Lahore had issued non-bailable arrest warrants for the former prime minister and six other party leaders in cases registered at the Model Town and Naseerabad police stations relating to the May 9 — when violent protests broke out in the country following Imran’s arrest.
The first information reports concern the torching a container at Kalma Chowk during the May 9 riots and setting fire to a PML-N office in Model Town.
Other suspects named in the cases included former federal ministers Hammad Azhar and Murad Saeed, Jamshed Iqbal Cheema and his wife Musarrat Jamshed Cheema, former provincial minister Mian Aslam Iqbal and Imran’s nephew Hassaan Khan Niazi.
The PTI chief appeared before a Lahore ATC today where he was granted protective bail till July 7 in both cases against surety bonds worth Rs100,000 each.
The court also barred the police from arresting Imran.
PTI chief gets bail in murder case
Separately, Justice Ali Baqar Najafi of the Lahore High Court (LHC) approved Imran’s bail plea in the murder case of Advocate Shar in Balochistan.
The lawyer was shot dead by unidentified assailants near Alamo Chowk on Airport Road in Quetta on June 6. Police said he was on the way to the Balochistan High Court when his vehicle came under attack by unknown men armed with automatic weapons. The lawyer received 15 bullet injuries and died on the spot.
On June 6, a first information report (FIR) was registered against Imran on the complaint of Shar’s son, Advocate Siraj Ahmed, at Quetta’s Shaheed Jamil police station in an “abetment to murder” case.
In the complaint, Ahmed said he was “certain” about the involvement of the ex-premier and others from the PTI in his father’s murder because of this case.
During today’s hearing, Imran’s lawyer Ishtiaq A Khan said his client could not travel to Quetta due to security concerns. On the other hand, government counsel Ghulam Sarwar opposed the PTI chief’s request for protective bail.
Subsequently, the court accepted Imran’s request and granted him protective bail in the case till July 3.
