Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan Stable After ‘Assassination Attempt’

Posted by Samson Kankan Asia, Latest Headlines Thursday, November 3rd, 2022

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was in stable condition after being shot on the shin Thursday at a political rally in what the country’s president deemed “a heinous assassination attempt”.

Khan has been leading a march since Friday from the city of Lahore towards the capital, Islamabad, campaigning for fresh elections after being ousted from office in April.

African Examiner reports earlier that Khan was wounded when shots were fired from the crowd near Gujranwala, his senior aide, Raoof Hasan said.

“This was an attempt to kill him, to assassinate him,” Hassan said, adding that one alleged attacker had been shot dead and a second taken into police custody.

In a tweet, Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi also called it “a heinous assassination attempt”.

“I thank Allah that he is safe but injured with a few bullets in his leg & hopefully non-critical,” he tweeted.

Pakistan has been grappling with Islamist militants for decades, and politicians are frequently targeted by assassination attempts.

In 2007 the nation’s first female leader Benazir Bhutto was slain in a suicide attack which still remains unsolved.

Each day during his so-called “long march” 70 year-old Khan has mounted a shipping container towed by a lorry, making speeches from the open top to crowds of thousands in cities and towns along the way.

Khan has repeatedly told supporters he was prepared to die for the country, and aides have long warned of unspecified threats made on his life.