Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan survives assassination attempt

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan appears to have survived an assassination attempt after a gunman fired at a container where Khan and other members of his party had assembled at Wazirabad in Punjab during a protest march.

Khan appears to have been hit in his lower right leg and has been shifted to hospital in Lahore. Video footage showed that a bandage had been wrapped between his right foot and knee as he was being shifted from the container to a car.

Head of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf ( PTI)  Faisal Javed and Ahmed Chattha have been injured in the firing. Khan has been attacked when he was leading his second long March to the Pakistani capital seeking early elections. His first march on May 25 had fizzled out after the protesters approached Islamabad’s Rez Zone.

In response to the incident, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif  condemned the firing on Khan  “in the strongest words”.

“I have directed [the] interior minister for an immediate report on the incident. I pray for the recovery and health of [the] PTI chairman and other injured people.”

“Violence should have no place in our country’s politics,” he said.

Following the attack, PTI leader called out for the revenge. He pointed out that the assassination attempt was not only an attack on Imran Khan, but attack on Pakistan itself.

India said it was keeping a close eye on the incident.

Also Read: Can Pakistan head for civil war after Election Commission bars Imran Khan from contesting polls for five years?