When a Supreme Court directive is needed to get an FIR registered, one has to accept that the formal system is not really in place. And when that FIR leaves out all the names originally mentioned by the accused, one asks if that qualifies as an FIR either. Imran Khan’s “attack” has triggered a dismal display of how weak the formal state system has become or perhaps never grew up in Pakistan.
Barring the army, everything looks like a rickety structure that gets blown away at the first swish of any adverse wind. The conflict between Imran’s PTI and the Shehbaz ML + the army is not what can make people feel confident about Pakistan’s political future. Although located in the formal space, the political functioning is informal and that is what is ailing Pakistan.
Sindh Labour Minister Saeed Ghani has called for an investigation into the number of bullets Imran Khan took. He has asked for a team to investigate whether or not the PTI chief sustained four bullet injuries or less.. When a minister belonging to the party in power squabbles over the number of bullets a person gets hit by, it’s not even an absurd situation. It’s surreal.
The FIR drama
PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry has said the people will never accept that a particular group remains above the law. This was in connection with the refusal or delay in registering the FIR over the assassination attempt of Imran Khan. Imran had mentioned three names and this included a senior official of Pakistan intelligence services. The army had responded by calling such allegations baseless and unacceptable.
The FIR was however filed after the Pakistan Supreme Court’s five-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial ordered the Punjab police chief Faisal Shahkar to register the FIR.
It was done so but it does not contain the names of interior minister Rana Sanaullah, Pakistan army’s senior official DG(C) ISI Major General Faisal Naseer and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif whom Imran Khan had mentioned in his application as the three prime accused.
The FIR only named Naveed, the person who was caught at the meeting. Charges of terrorism, murder and attempt to murder have been made against him in the FIR.
Naveed had said after his arrest that he was angry and wanted to kill Imran Khan because “they were playing loud music on their deck while the Azaan is being recited, so I decided to kill him.” he has denied any political links.
Politics after assassination FIR
The registration of the FIR by the police after being directed by the Supreme Court shows that there is some judicial clout left. But leaving out the very names which had made the FIR unacceptable also shows how hollow that is. Everyone’s angle has been kept it seems but the FIR’s value is zero as the main persons are left out, the original reason for refusing.. However, PTI has gained much from the refusal to register and the ML and the army has also shown how much clout it really has. For the moment it seems a stalled game for all.
ML MPs have been abusing PTI and Imran Khan happily in the parliament but that is never where politics is played in Pakistan. From where it does, other unknown moves are on from which Imran and Shehbaz have both gained in the past and will do so in future. What the army probably didn’t expect was for Imran to fight back as he has done and that has embarrassed the army.
The army is however used to being embarrassed and won’t feel too bothered as nothing more happens beyond that. It’s aware that politicians are both weak and dependent on them to gain or stay in power. Given that equation nothing really has changed. Nothing really can change. But how much the majority of Pakistanis really want things to change is also not asked.
Source: United News of Bangladesh