In an assassination attempt, Pakistan’s ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan was shot in the leg at a rally, in a blast of bullets that killed at least one other member of Khan’s party.
A leader of Khan’s PTI party, Asad Umar said, “Yes, he has been shot, there are pellets lodged in his leg, his bone has been chipped, he has also been shot in his thigh.”
The former Pakistan cricket captain was taken from the rally site just outside the town of Gujranwala to receive treatment in Pakistan’s second-largest city, Lahore, a two-hour drive away.
Senator Fawad Chaudhry, a senior PTI politician, said Khan was undergoing surgery while six other injured people were still being treated.
The apparent shooter was detained by police, who found that he was carrying a 9mm pistol and two empty magazines.
Khan is not the first Pakistani leader to be assassinated. Pakistan’s first Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, was assassinated in 1951. In 2007, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. In 2008, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani survived an assassination attempt.
The motives of the man who shot Imran Khan are unclear. “We want to know who is behind the incident, which people trained the accused, what is the thinking under which this boy was prepared, how much money he got, where did he get it from,” tweeted Pakistan’s Punjab Chief Minister, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.
At least one person was killed in the incident, according to Faisal Javed, a senior PTI politician and close Khan ally who received a wound to the head in the attack. The victim’s name has not been released.
In a video, the Senator, who is seated and receiving treatment, said: “Please pray for us, for Imran Khan, pray for our fellow workers who are severely injured and pray for our party member who has died and is martyred.”
Khan was on the seventh day of a nationwide rally tour calling for early elections, which currently are not scheduled to be held until next year.
Protests broke out across Pakistan in support of Khan, including in the capital Islamabad as well as in Peshawar, where approximately 800 protesters gathered, blocking roads for around two hours while holding party flags and chanting slogans against the army and the federal government.
“Today we held a peaceful protest which would continue in the future as well,” Elahi said.
Khan alleges that Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and a senior intelligence official, Maj. Gen. Faisal Naseer, were behind Thursday’s attack.
Khan made the accusations in a statement shared by PTI senior leader Umar, who said he recently spoke to Khan.
“I was getting information that this was going to happen from beforehand,” Khan said, according to Umar. “These men need to be removed from their posts, if they are not removed then there will be protests.”
Sharif, who came to power after Khan lost a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April, condemned Thursday’s attack on his political rival on Twitter.
“I condemn the incident of firing on PTI Chairman Imran Khan in the strongest words,” Sharif wrote, adding that he has asked for an “immediate report on the incident” and will pray for the recovery of those injured.
“Violence should have no place in our country’s politics,” Sharif wrote.
On October 21, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) recommended that Khan be disqualified from holding political office for five years for corruption, a move that resulted in unrest among Khan’s supporters.
The commission ruled that Khan had “made false statements” regarding the sale of gifts sent to him by the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Dubai while he was Prime Minister – an offense that violates Pakistan’s constitution.
Khan was unseated in a vote of no-confidence following allegations of bad governance and economic mismanagement.
Since then he has repeatedly claimed, without any evidence, that America orchestrated his ouster. Khan’s allegations have become a staple at rallies he has held across the country in a bid to return to power.
His claims have resonated in a nation where anti-American sentiment runs high, and anti-establishment feelings are inflamed by rapidly rising cost of living.
