The government on Monday registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Tahirul Qadri under the anti-terrorist act for attempting to attack the parliament building.
Both PAT and PTI leaders were booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act for incitement to violence, attempted murder, robbery and interfering in the affairs of the state by secretariat police station.
An official of the police station said that the violation of section 144 and the written agreement with Islamabad administration regarding the protest are also included in the report.
He said that the FIR also includes the name of Awami Muslim League leader Sheikh Rashid, PTI senior leaders Jahangir Tareen, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and other PTI and PAT representatives.
Meanwhile, PTI also submitted an application to register a FIR against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and members of his cabinet for a wide array of charges including murder and attempted murder.
The application includes the names of Railways Minister Khwaja Saad Rafique, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar, Defence Minister Khwaja Asif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Deputy Commissioner Islamabad, SHO Secretariat police station and officials of Punjab, AJK and Frontier Constabulary.
Commenting on the move, PTI leaders said that the party was staging a peaceful protest when participants of the sit-in were attacked with teargas, rubber bullets as well as live ammunition. They said several party workers were injured due to the baton charge.
According to the application, the accused are directly or indirectly involved in crimes of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, cause bodily harm, use of government machinery for their personal motives and aiding and abetting under Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, PPC, Code of Criminal Procedure, Protection of Pakistan Ordinance 2014 and all other applicable laws of Pakistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 2nd, 2014.