Petition filed in Lahore HC for release of accused held for attacking Imran Khan

Arguing that he was "illegally detained", a petition has been filed in the Lahore High Court seeking release of the assailant who has been named in the FIR as the prime accused in the assassination attempt on former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Punjab Police on Tuesday registered an FIR in the assassination bid on Khan and named Naveed Mohammad Basheer, who was taken into custody, as the prime accused in the case. Police said they nabbed Basheer from the crime scene after confessed to his crime. In a confessional video, Basheer said he attacked Khan because he was "misleading the public".

According to an Express Tribune newspaper report on Tuesday, the Registrar Office of the provincial top court sent a file to Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti on Monday seeking release of Basheer from illegal detention.

The petitioner's counsel urged the court to release illegally detained Basheer on immediate basis, arguing that he has nothing to do with the case.

The petitioner said Basheer has been kept in illegal detention due to rifts between politicians and the powerful corridors.

However, the LHC's Registrar's Office raised an objection to the petitioner that the person who filed the plea is neither an affected person nor belonged to the family of the affected person.

The FIR was registered after the Supreme Court on Monday ordered the Punjab government to file a First Information Report in the assassination bid on Khan within 24 hours.

However, it does not mention the names of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and a senior Pakistan Army official Major General Faisal Naseer, three people who Khan had accused of hatching a plot to assassinate him.

Khan, 70, suffered bullet injuries in the right leg on Thursday last when two gunmen fired a volley of bullets at him and others in the Wazirabad area of Punjab province, where he was leading a protest march against the Shehbaz Sharif government.

During the interrogation, Basheer admitted to opening fire on the container of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party chief. Basheer told the investigators that he did it because he was frustrated as Khan was misleading the nation and had also uttered blasphemous words.

However, the police believe that Basheer was a drug addict and his statements regarding the incident were "doubtful", the report said.