After the assassination attempt on PTI chief Imran Khan on Thursday, Friday was a day of rage for PTI supporters. There battles between enraged party supporters and police all over the country, with tear gas being fired liberally. The attempt on Governor’s House Lahore was perhaps the most egregious, as it involved using burning tires in an attempt to burn down its gate. The protests in Lahore do not seem to have made that much sense, for the Punjab government was formed by the PTI, which had installed a SACM in former Governor Umar Sarfraz Cheema to assist Interior Minister Aslam Iqbal, who had only recently assumed the portfolio after Col (retd) Hashim Dogar resigned. Mr Khan’s much-awaited speech, which took place from his hospital bed, did not have the appeal to maintain the peace that would have cyted to calm the situation, but told party workers that they had a right to protest.
He also did not take back the claim released by party Secretary General Asad Umar, which held three persons responsible for the attempt, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and the ISI’s DG-C, Maj Gen Faisal Naseer. Instead, he said he had learnt of a plan that day to kill him in Wazirabad or Gujrat. He also repeated his previous claim that they wished to claim he was guilty of blasphemy and the assassin would use this as an excuse. He also repeated the claim that he had made a videotape of the closed-door meeting where the conspiracy was hatched, which he had ordered released if anything happened to him. His speech included a call to keep protesting until the resignation of those concerned, and a promise that the Long March would continue.
Meanwhile, the Punjab police had arrested the man who had sold the assassin a weapon and ammunition, but there was no official indication about a second shooter, even his existence is being freely speculated about. The federal government has asked the Punjab government to constitute a Joint Investigation Team. The federal and Punjab governments can be left to trade accusations, but the nation cannot be healed unless it gets answers to the many questions that still hang over the assassination attempt. At the moment, it is healing it needs most, and SAPM Qamaruz Zaman Kaira’s call for dialogue, which he claimed was a private initiative, but which was given much play on official media, shows that the government is probably ready to negotiate with the PTI. It would be bad for the entire nation, not just its supporters, if it was to let slip the opportunity.
