Centre accuses Punjab of mishandling Wazirabad incident.

ISLAMABAD -- The federal government on Monday accused the Punjab government of committing criminal negligence in connection with the Wazirabad incident, saying an FIR of the incident based on facts should immediately be registered on merit and not on conjectures or speculative allegations.

In a letter dated November 5 but released to the media on November 7, the federal government through the Ministry of Interior has pointed out several lapses, including failure to provide adequate security to ex-premier Imran Khan, delay in lodging the FIR, releasing of 'confessional videos', and not providing any information to the Centre, on part of the provincial government.

The release of the letter appears to be an attempt to build up the Centre's case against the Punjab government as the Supreme Court (SC) has already ordered the registration of the FIR in the matter.

On November 3, a PTI worker was killed and several others, including the PTI chairman, were injured in a gun attack on PTI's long march at Wazirabad.

Through the letter, the interior ministry has conveyed the federal government's grave concerns on the mishandling of the high-profile case, which was evident from the fact that the FIR of the said case, ordinarily required to be registered within 24 hours of any incident, has not been registered even after the lapse of more than 36 hours.

Actually, four days have passed since the incident.

The ministry said that the failure to register the FIR despite the fact that the incident took place in the presence of provincial police personnel at the scene is indicative of the provincial government's lackluster response to the unfortunate incident.

Following the incident, the letter read, the provincial government has exhibited a complete unwillingness to provide any kind of...