Imran a fraudster, staging drama: Rana Sanaullah

ISLAMABAD: Categorically rejecting the PTI Senior Vice-President Fawad Chaudhry’s claim, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Thursday insisted that only one shooter, who was also a religious fanatic, was involved in the assassination bid on Imran.

A day earlier, Fawad claimed that the bid on Imran’s life was carried out by three attackers and they targeted him from three different directions.

“Naveed’s [confessional] statement is 100% correct. No second or third person was involved in the attack,” he said while addressing a press conference here.

“It is an incident of single firing and Naveed was religiously motivated,” Sana said, adding that Moazzam, a participant in the PTI’s rally, was killed by the bullet of Imran Khan’s guard. He said the guard must be arrested and interrogated, reports Geo News.

Without naming Imran Khan, Sanaullah said, “A fraudster had claimed that four bullets were recovered from his clothes.”

Criticising the PTI leaders, the interior minister said only seven to eight bullets were fired on the occasion but “interestingly they received 30-35 bullets”.

Imran Khan has been staging a drama for the past almost two months, he said, adding that it did not take more than two weeks to recover if he had received bullet injuries.

He also accused Imran of running a campaign seeking country’s default for the past two months, adding that the fitna should be tackled by the power of people’s vote.

The minister admitted that the outcome of talks with the TTP was not good.

He further said they should now hold talks with the Afghan government instead of the TTP leadership who had taken refuge in the war-torn country.

A day earlier, Sanaullah said the government could reengage in negotiations with the TTP if the proscribed militant group did not challenge the state’s writ.

“If the TTP decides to come within the ambit of the Constitution, then we can hold talks with them,” he had told journalists during a press conference in Islamabad, a similar demand that the previous government put forth before the outlawed organisation.

Sana said the government had decided to compile an authentic copy of the Holy Quran with respect to its Arabic text and translation in consultation with provincial Quran Boards to prevent any kind of distortion.

He said the prints of this authentic copy of the Holy Quran will be further distributed at the district and tehsil levels. The interior minister said the federal and all the provincial governments will ensure that there should be authentic copies of the Quran’s Arabic text as well as its translation. He said action will be taken against any attempt to distort the Quran’s text.

The interior minister further said the cyber wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) will be responsible for checking the negative propaganda on social media.