Deadlock persists over Wazirabad incident FIR.

LAHORE -- The controversy surrounding the first information report (FIR) of a gun attack on ex-premier Imran Khan deepened on Saturday when his party raised questions over alleAged police reluctance to register their complaint, while the police denied having recAeAived any application from party leaders two days after the Wazirabad shooting.

Amid a deadlock between Punjab's ruling coalition partners - PTI and PML-Q - over the ex-premier's reported insistence to book a senior army officer, the prime minister and interior minister in the case, rumours had it that the provincial government was going to transfer Inspector General of Police (IGP) Faisal Shahkar over his reluctance in this regard.

Editorial: By going public with his accusations, Imran has taken a step he may find impossible to reverse

A PTI worker died and 14 others, including Mr Khan and PTI leaders, were injured in the firing incident at Wazirabad's AllahAwala Chowk, where the party's 'Haqeeqi Azadi' march against the federal government had stopped on its way to Islamabad.

While the Punjab Police took into custody at least three suspects linked to the shooting, they denied having received any application from the PTI for an FIR. On the other hand, Mr Khan's nephew Advocate Hassaan Niazi told Dawn they had submitted the application at the police station, but the personnel did not provide them with any receipt for the same.

He said they 'left the application on the table' and came back. Later, he tweeted, 'SHO Wazirabad and DPO Wazirabad refuse to even take the application. 48 hours gone. Police refusing to take applications. Telling applicant Zubair Niazi (PTI Lahore General Secretary) to take out that ONE name. They say the crime minister's name is fine.'

Mr Khan told a presser earlier on Friday that even an FIR was not being registered against the three people who he accused of 'planning his assassination'. 'Until Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Maj Gen Naseer resign, no fair investigation can be conducted,' he asserted.

A senior police officer from Islamabad, requesting anonymity, told Dawn that under Article 25 of the Constitution every citizen of the country is equal and a...