Lahore: Supporters of Imran Khan’s party on Monday held a demonstration outside the residence of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif here, demanding an independent investigation into his alleged role in the attack on the PTI party chairman as well as the killing of journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya.
A heavy contingent of police was deployed as hundreds of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers burnt tyres and staged a sit-in outside the gate of Jati Umra residence of the elder Sharif, who is in London.
They held placards and banners inscribed with “bring back traitor Nawaz Sharif from London through Interpol” for his alleged involvement in the murder of Arshad Sharif and attack on Imran Khan.
They chanted slogans against the Sharif family as well as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led federal government and later dispersed peacefully.
Nawaz Sharif, 72, the supremo of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has been in a “self-exile” in London since November 2019 when he went there after the Islamabad High Court granted him bail on “medical grounds” in the Al-Azizia Mills corruption case.
He was sentenced to seven years in prison in connection with the case.
The PTI workers held the protest after a self-proclaimed spokesperson of the United Kingdom chapter of the PML-N Tasneem Haider alleged three-time premier Nawaz Sharif had discussed with him a plan to kill journalist Arshad Sharif and cricketer-turned-politician Khan.
Haider told a press conference in London on Sunday that he was part of the meetings with the elder Sharif in which he (Haider) was asked (by Nawaz) to arrange “shooters” to kill 70-year-old Khan and the journalist.
He further alleged that Nawaz had asked him to provide shooters to attack Khan in Wazirabad, where the ousted prime minister survived an assassination attempt on November 3, suffering bullet injuries to his right leg.
Responding to his claim, Pakistan’s Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said that Haider had no relation with the party.
“Tasneem Haider has never been a spokesman of PML-N London,” she said in a statement.
Punjab government’s Home Minister Omar Sarfraz Cheema said the provincial authorities have contacted Haider and asked him to record his statement in the investigation into the assassination attempt on Khan.
Cheema said the central and provincial leadership of PML-N will also be questioned in this case.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Siasat Desk and is published from a syndicated feed.)
