Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan shot in shin at rally, survives bid on life

New Delhi, November 3

A gunman on Thursday opened fire on former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, injuring him in the shin, while the latter was delivering a speech at a rally in Wazirabad in Punjab province. Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said the suspect had been arrested.

HISTORY OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN PAKISTAN

Pakistan has a long history of political violence. Former PM Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in December 2007 in a gun and bomb attack after an election rally in Rawalpindi, next to Islamabad. Her father and former PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged in 1979 after being deposed in a military coup.

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The news we dread … Thank God he’s okay. And thank you from his sons to the heroic man in the crowd who tackled the gunman. Jemima Goldsmith, Imran’s first wife

Ousted as PM in a parliamentary confidence vote in April, Khan was six days into a protest procession bound for Islamabad, waving at thousands of cheering supporters from the roof of a container truck when the shots rang out. Several in his convoy were reportedly wounded in the attack.

“It was a clear assassination attempt. Khan was hit but he’s stable. There was a lot of bleeding,” said Fawad Chaudhry, spokesperson for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. “If the shooter had not been stopped by the crowd, the entire PTI leadership would have been wiped out,’’ he claimed.

Khan’s PTI colleague Faisal Javed, who was also wounded and had bloodstains on his clothes, told Geo TV that several of his colleagues had been hurt. The military, which has been at odds with Khan, said the shooting was “highly condemnable”. Witnesses heard burst of shots after which Khan and his aides fell down. The gunman, who appeared to be in his twenties, was grabbed by a PTI activist, according to the footage of the incident run by Pakistani TV channels. Handed over to the police, the alleged shooter told the media he wanted to kill Khan and had acted alone. “He (Khan) was misleading the people and I couldn’t bear it,” he said.

India said it was keeping a ‘close’ watch on developments. “This is something that we are closely keeping an eye on and we will continue to monitor the developments,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.