Imran Khan is able to put forward a nomination for any member of an FIR.
ISLAMABAD: The honorary chairman of a Japanese automobile company, who can literally change the fortunes of a country through his business and was named “Asia Businessman of the Year 2005” by Fortune, was once nominated in a first information report (FIR) in Pakistan and narrowly avoided arrest by the capital city’s police.
The bizarre development took place when renowned politician Dr. Sher Afgan Niazi’s son Behram Khan died in a road accident on Nov 22, 2002, within the jurisdiction of Margalla police station.
Niazi, who belonged to Mianwali and served as minister for parliamentary affairs, had nominated Fujio Cho along with others for allegedly installing a defective supplemental restraint airbag system in his son’s car and the Islamabad police had included the names.
Respected attorney Raja Rizwan Abbasi recalls a time when a Pakistani investigating officer failed to successfully apprehend the CEO of a Japanese automaker in a car accident case. However, the police official in the capital city later reported that he had been informed that Cho was hiding in a building that was still under construction.
Cho eventually fled when he noticed the police approaching, and he was subsequently labeled an absconder.
Abbasi stated, “Imran can even nominate President Joe Biden, President Vladimir Putin, President Xi Jinping, Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, or any other person he wants; it’s his right and FIR should be registered the way he wants.”
‘Imran can nominate anyone in FIR
Leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has been calling for a case to be lodged against current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, and a military commander ever since a gun incident that took place during a long march in Wazirabad.
The head of the PTI and other top party officials are sure that an FIR lacking the names of these three people is meaningless paper. In a recent interview with CNN, former premier Imran repeated his earlier claim that he is unable to identify the individuals he suspects of plotting his assassination.
According to Abbasi, the police or court can release the accused for lack of proof after investigation if Imran Khan nominates them and if there are penalties if the information he provides turns out to be fraudulent and is not proven during the investigation or before the court.
Shoaib Shaheen, president of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association, echoed Abbasi’s sentiments, saying that the police are within their rights to refuse to record the FIR as asked if they believe the nominated individuals will be removed from their positions by the police or magistrate.
Abbasi responded to a question about when charges of false FIR are attracted by stating that in this case, no one can deny the rally and the firing at Imran and that therefore Section 182 (false information with the intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person) of the Pakistan Penal Code applies.
Both attorneys agreed that submitting a bogus FIR was unethical, but they also felt that the justice system had been compromised by not registering the FIR as the complainant had requested. Moreover, they all agreed that the accused have no recourse before facing insult unless they sue for damages due to malicious prosecution and that this can only be done after the matter has been closed.
“One purpose of nominating people in the FIR is to stigmatize them and it gives the other side the opportunity to keep on pointing fingers at others that they were once nominated in such and such case,” Abbasi said.
Abbasi lamented that the practice was more common in the past when people would nominate the opponent groups or a whole village in a case just to settle a score, saying that the reputations of individuals were damaged on a daily basis through such cases but that there was no repair for such damages except seeking pecuniary damages for malicious prosecution.
“Wrongly implicating someone in a case is wrong, but circumstances in Imran’s cases are different,” Shaheen said, adding that at first the case was given a religious element, and subsequently the attack was blamed on growing political polarisation. He added that the revelation of video statements and the delay in filing the FIR show that influential persons were behind the murders since “no one kills in love; circumstances show enmity.”
Shaheen said, “A popular leader escaped an assassination attempt and some people are making fun of it.” “Did they want another incident like Benazir Bhutto, whose real killers have never been brought before the nation?”
Abbasi remarked, “Anyone could be nominated in an FIR in a country where Cho can be booked and declared an absconder.” And the system is this, and it operates like this:
