pakistan | Ex-PM Imran Khan recovering in hospital after assassination attempt

(Wazirabad) Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan recovers in hospital on Friday from a gunshot wound the day after an assassination attempt, his supporters promising to maintain his “long march” towards Islamabad intended to weaken the government for the next elections.

Thursday’s attack on his convoy – apparently carried out by a single gunman – left one dead and at least ten injured, further heightening tension in a country that has been embroiled in a deep political crisis since Mr Khan was ousted from power in april.

The former cricket star “was in stable condition and doing well” in a hospital in Lahore, his doctor Faisal Sultan told AFP on Friday morning.

Seemi Bokhari, a member of his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI, Pakistan Movement for Justice), assured after visiting him that he was “in good spirits”. “Doctors allow him to move […] He feels perfectly fine and will be released soon,” she told AFP.

Mr. Khan, 70, on Friday launched a “long march” bringing together several thousand of his supporters between Lahore and the capital Islamabad, to obtain the holding of early elections, the first step in his hoped-for reconquest of power.

He was hit by at least one bullet in the right leg when an individual fired a burst of automatic pistol towards the top of a container on top of a lorry, from where Mr Khan used to address to the crowd since the start of the march.

The assassination attempt took place as the vehicle slowly drove through the large crowd gathered in Wazirabad, about 170 km east of the capital.

“Everyone standing in the front row was hit,” Fawad Chaudhry, former information minister in the Khan government, told AFP. The PTI denounced an assassination attempt.

Crime scene

Chaudhry said PTI officials would meet on Friday to discuss strategy for the “long march,” promising that it would continue.

“The long march for true freedom will continue and the movement for people’s rights will continue until there is an election announcement,” he tweeted.

Since his overthrow in a no-confidence motion in April, Mr Khan has consistently demanded an immediate election, banking on his unsullied popularity to secure a second term.

The government prefers to wait for the October 2023 deadline to give itself time to get the economy back on track and make it a campaign argument.

Several PTI officials are among the injured. Party officials have called on their supporters to stage protests across the country after the big Friday prayer.

On Friday morning, Mr Khan’s truck turned into a crime scene. The perimeter is cordoned off and guarded by commandos, while the scientific police screens the place.

Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb announced on Thursday that an assailant had been apprehended. Officials have shared a video circulating online in which he justifies his action.

“I did it because (Khan) was misleading the public. I tried to kill him,” says the man with tousled hair, his hands tied behind his back, inside what appears to be a police station.

Wide Support

He adds that he was angered by the din emanating from the procession at the time of the call to prayer.

Pakistan has been struggling for decades with violent Islamist movements, which have a strong influence on a large part of the population.

Several political assassinations have marked the recent history of the country, marked by almost permanent political instability and the preeminent role of the army, which has been in power for almost half of its 75 years of existence.

The first head of the Pakistani government, Liaquat Ali Khan, was shot and killed during a political rally in 1951 in Rawalpindi. In 2007, Benazir Bhutto, the first modern woman to lead a Muslim country, was also killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up near her vehicle as she greeted supporters, also in Rawalpindi.

Despite his ouster, Mr. Khan enjoys broad support among the population. Since April, he has held large rallies across the country – drawing tens of thousands of supporters – to pressure the fragile ruling coalition.

He continues to claim that his fall was the result of a “conspiracy” hatched by the United States, and relentlessly criticizes the government of his successor, Shehbaz Sharif, as well as the military establishment.

Imran Khan came to power in 2018, after the victory in the legislative elections of the PTI, on a populist platform combining promises of social reforms, religious conservatism and the fight against corruption.

But under his tenure, the economic situation deteriorated and he lost the support of the army, which was accused of having helped get him elected.