Islamabad: A gunman opened fire at a campaign truck carrying Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday, wounding him slightly and also some of his supporters, a senior leader from his party and police said. Party official Asad Umar said Khan was wounded in the leg and was not seriously hurt.
According to police, the attack happened in the Wazirabad district in the eastern Punjab province where Khan was travelling in a large convoy of trucks and cars heading towards the capital, Islamabad, as part of his campaign aimed at forcing the government to hold early elections.
Khan, 70, underwent a surgery to remove bullet fragments and he is in stable condition, reports said.
Khan, who was ousted as prime minister in April, was six days into a miles-long protest procession, standing and waving to thousands of cheering supporters from the roof of a container truck when shots rang out.
Several others in his convoy were wounded and Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said a suspect had been arrested after the attack in Wazirabad, nearly 200 km (120 miles) from Islamabad.
In purported footage of the shooting, being run by multiple channels, a man with a handgun is grabbed from behind by one of the people at the gathering. He then tries to flee.
TV channels showed a man they said was a suspected shooter, who looked to be in his twenties or thirties. He said he wanted to kill Khan and had acted alone.
"He (Khan) was misleading the people, and I couldn't bear it," the suspect said in the video. The information minister confirmed the footage was recorded by police.
No one has yet been charged with the attack.
At least one by-stander was killed in the gunfire, police said.
Prime minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken notice of and “severely condemned” the firing incident at Imran Khan’s long march container in Wazirabad. He has instructed Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah to seek an immediate report on the incident from the IGP and chief secretary Punjab, according to a tweet from the Government of Pakistan’s official Twitter account.
Senator Faisal Javed and former Governor of Sindh Imran Ismail are reportedly injured along with two others in the incident.
“A man opened fire with an automatic weapon. Several people are wounded. Imran Khan is also injured,” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Umar told Reuters.
The incident took place at around 4:15pm Pakistan Standard Time (PST) after Imran Khan arrived at the container to address the masses on the 7th day (Thursday) of his Haqeeqi Azadi March.
Umar said Khan was wounded in the leg and was not seriously hurt. “He is being taken to a hospital in Lahore, but he is not seriously wounded. A bullet hit him in the keg,’’ Umar told reporters. According to the Interior Ministry, the government has ordered a probe into the incident.
Later, former minister Fawad Chaudhry in a statement condemned the incident and claimed the government’s days were numbered.
Another leader of PTI Farrukh Habib reminded the nation “This is the life of 220m people.”
Khan was leading a protest march on Islamabad to demand snap elections.
Khan's latest challenge to the government 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 has challenged the disqualification in a pending court case, has said he would sue Chief Election Commissioner Sikandara Raja, who was behind the decision, for calling him a ``dishonest person.''
It was also not immediately known if Khan's convoy would proceed on to Islamabad.
For years he busied himself with charity projects, raising millions to build a cancer hospital to honour his mother.
He tiptoed into politics and for years held the PTI’s only parliamentary seat.
But the party grew hugely during the military-led government of General Pervez Musharraf, becoming a genuine force in the 2013 elections before winning a majority five years later.
Running the country proved more difficult than sitting in opposition, however.
Double-digit inflation has drove up the cost of basic goods, and the country had to borrow heavily just to service nearly $130 billion of foreign debt.
Married three times, his current wife Bushra Bibi comes from a conservative family and wears a veil in public.
Often described as being impulsive and brash, he draws frequently on cricket analogies to describe his political battles.
“I fight till the very last ball,” he told a recent TV interview.
“I entered politics when I had conquered my fear of dying. I don’t fear dying, you’ve got to go one day.”
-- AFP
