Pakistan’s Punjab police have booked 150 others, including ousted chief minister Imran Khan and some members of his former cabinet, over the attack on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his delegation at Masjid-e-Nabvi in Saudi Arabia, officials said. .
Video clips circulated on social media showed some pilgrims – interestingly Khan’s supporters shouting ‘chor’ (thief) and ‘gaddar’ (traitor) as Sharif and various participants of his delegation arrived at Madinah’s Masjid Nawabi on final Thursday.
Pakistani pilgrims also used abusive language towards members of the delegation. Madina police arrested 5 Pakistanis concerned about the slogans.
The Punjab Police on Saturday night registered an FIR against Khan, who is additionally chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and a hundred and fifty others, including former federal minister Fawad Chaudhary and Sheikh Rashid, a former adviser. Senior Minister Shahbaz Gul, former National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Sori and Khan’s close aides in London Anil Musarrat and Sahebzada Jahangir, officials said.
The case was registered at a police station in Faisalabad, about one hundred and eighty kilometers from Lahore, by Naeem Bhatti, a resident of the neighborhood, who accused them of desecrating the Prophet’s mosque in Madinah, hooliganism and hurting the sentiments of Muslims. said
The FIR has been registered under special sections, including 295A of the Pakistan Penal Code (deliberate and malicious act which insults his faith or non-sectarian belief which is deemed to offend religious sentiments of any kind).
According to the FIR, more than a hundred supporters of Khan from Pakistan and the UK were sent to Saudi Arabia to target Sharif and his delegation at Masjid-e-Nabvi in Madinah. Khan and various nominated leaders of PTI have given instructions to party people in this regard, it said.
Meanwhile, Faisalabad police said that action will be taken against those named in the FIR as per law.
Khan, in a TV interview on Saturday, distanced himself from pilgrims who shouted slogans at Sharif and asserted that “one should not even imagine asking people to shout slogans at holy places.” The incident has been strongly condemned.
