Lahore, Pakistan: A shoe was hurled at Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif by a religious extremist on Sunday during a function at an Islamic seminary in Lahore.
The incident took place a day after another religious extremist blackened the face of Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khwaja Asif with ink as he addressed his party’s worker’s convention in his hometown in Sialkot, some 100km from Lahore.
Sharif, the chief guest at Jamia Naemia seminary, Ghari Shahu Lahore, was struck on the shoulder and the ear as he headed towards the rostrum to deliver his speech.
The assailant, a student, also managed to position himself in front of Sharif and chant the “Labbaik Ya Rasoolullah” slogan.
Security personnel caught the student and his other accomplice, who also chanted “Labbaik Ya Rasoolullah” slogans, and gave them a sound thrashing before handing them over to the police.
Police identified the shoe thrower as Abdul Gafoor, a former student of the seminary, while his accomplice was identified as Sajid.
While the situation became very tense afterwards, Sharif proceeded to deliver a brief speech but made no mention of the incident.
Religious parties, especially the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, have held Sharif and his PML-N party responsible for attempts to change a clause related to the finality of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in the country’s constitution. In yesterday’s incident, Faiz Rasool told the police that this was what had motivated him to throw ink at the foreign minister.
“This hurt the sentiments of millions of Pakistanis, including myself,” Rasool said.
Pakistan’s Law Minister Zahid Hamid had to resign last November when hundreds of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan supporters camped at Islamabad’s Faizabad traffic interchange, forcing the PML-N government to take action against those in the federal cabinet responsible for attempting to change the clause.
The mainstream parties — the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf — condemned the incident.
PML-N leader and Railway Minister Khwaja Saad Rafique said those afraid of the popularity of the PML-N were behind such incidents.
