Imran Khan, a former prime minister, was shot in the leg slightly and one of his followers was killed when a shooter opened fire at a protest demonstration in eastern Pakistan on Thursday (local time, late NZT), according to Imran Khan’s party and the police. Nine additional victims suffered injuries.
The shooter was apprehended right afterwards, and police later made a video of him in detention in which he is shown reportedly confessing to the killings and claiming to have acted alone. What circumstances led him to make his statement was unclear.
The suspect, named as Faisal Butt by Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb, said that only Imran Khan was his intended target.
According to a tweet from Tehreek-e-Insaf senior leader Omar Ayub Khan, Khan, 70, had surgery at the Shaukat Khanum Hospital in Lahore. According to accounts and a hazy photograph from the demonstration, Khan was seen with a bandage on his right leg, just above the foot.
After the gunshot, party spokesman Fawad Chaudhry addressed rally attendees in Wazirabad, describing it as a “assassination attempt.” He continued, “It was an attack on the entire country of Pakistan,” and pledged that the populace will exact revenge.
The violence, which follows Khan’s ouster as prime minister in a no-confidence vote in April, raised new concerns about growing political instability in Pakistan, a country with a long history of political violence and assassinations.
Since he lost the vote in Parliament, Khan has mobilised mass rallies across the nuclear-armed nation of 225 million, whipping up crowds with claims that he was a victim of a conspiracy by his successor, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, and the United States — allegations that both the premier and Washington deny.
Sharif denounced the assault and mandated an investigation by his administration.
“Violence should have no place in our country’s politics,” he continued, adding that he was praying for Khan.
The former cricket star-turned-Islamist politician was travelling in a sizable protest caravan of trucks and cars toward the capital of Islamabad when the attack took place in the Wazirabad area of the eastern Punjab province.
His campaign to compel the government to call for early elections includes the convoy.
According to district police officer Ghazanfar Ali, the incident left nine other people injured and one person dead.
Tehreek-e-Insaf legislator Faisal Javed was one of the injured. Khan’s march into Islamabad would not be halted by the incident, he claimed in a video address while revealing his bloodied attire. After the shooting, Khan’s fans protested around the nation.
Khan has been at odds with Pakistan’s ruthless military and has refused to abandon his intentions to stage a rally in the nation’s capital.
Khan had the right to conduct a demonstration there, but no one would be permitted to destabilise the nation, according to the military. Additional security has been put in place by the Islamabad authorities to prevent any conflicts.
After starting his march from Lahore, the capital of the Punjab province, with hundreds of supporters, Khan was attacked less than a week later.
Sharif’s government has said that there would be no early election and that the next balloting will be held as scheduled in 2023.
Khan’s latest challenge comes after Pakistan’s elections commission disqualified him from holding public office for five years for allegedly selling state gifts unlawfully and concealing assets as premier.
Khan, who is suing Chief Election Commissioner Sikandara Raja for labelling him a “dishonest person,” has filed a lawsuit challenging the disqualification.
The recent violence occurs as the impoverished nation deals with the fallout from the summer’s devastating floods, which claimed 1735 lives and caused 33 million people to flee their homes.
Imran Khan, a former prime minister of Pakistan, was shot at a demonstration.
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