Lawmakers lambast Imran for 'politicising' firing incident.

ISLAMABAD -- LawmaAkers on Friday lambasted PTI ChaAirman Imran Khan for allegedly trying to get political mileage from ThursAday's firing incident in Wazirabad by nominating political leaders and a military official as being behind the gun attack on the party's rally en route to the capital.

Speaking on a point of order in the National AssemAbly, DefAeAnce Minister KhawAaja Asif declared that the federal government wanted to unearth the conspiracy behind the incident and feared that if it was given a political colour then there would be no result of the investigation as had happened in all previous such cases - starting from the assassination of the country's first prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan in 1951 to the martyrdom of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto in a gun-and-bomb attack in 2007.

Mr Asif said the 'judicial murder' of PPP founder ZulfiAkar Ali Bhutto was exposed only when a former judge, Naseem Hassan Shah, admitted that they had given the verdict to hang Mr Bhutto under pressure during the military regime of Gen Ziaul Haq.

On the one hand, the minister called for an inquiry into the attack on the PTI's march and on the other, while quoting the confessional statement of an arrested accused, he termed it the result of religiosity, stating that Imran Khan had perhaps crossed 'red line' on religious issues during his speeches. He said in the past, he himself and another PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal had also become victims of religious fanaticism.

The defence minister was apparently responding to a video statement of PTI secretary general Asad Umar in which he had alleged that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and a military official were involved in the conspiracy to eliminate Imran Khan from the political scene.

Mr Asif also expressed his concern over the Punjab...