Pakistan’s Imran Khan Survives Assassination Attempt

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan has survived being shot at a political event in what the country’s president called a “heinous assassination attempt.”

Imran Khan has been leading a march from Lahore to Islamabad since Friday, advocating for new elections after being dismissed from power in April.

Raoof Hasan, his senior assistant, informed the news media that he was shot from the crowd near Gujranwala.

“This was an effort to kill him, to assassinate him,” Hasan added, adding that one of the alleged attackers was shot dead and a second was arrested.

Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi also branded it a “heinous assassination attempt”.

“I thank Allah that he is safe, although injured, with a few bullets in his leg, and hopefully not critical,” he tweeted.

Pakistan has been at odds with Islamist extremists for decades, and assassination attempts against officials are common.

Benazir Bhutto, the country’s first female leader, was assassinated in a suicide attack in 2007 that remains unsolved.

During his so-called “long march,” Khan, 70, has delivered speeches to crowds of ten’s of thousands in cities and towns along the way.

Imran Khan Loses no-confidence vote which he blames on the CIA.

The former international cricketer was ousted from office in April, 2022 in a no-confidence vote after several of his coalition partners defected. However, Imran Khan still enjoys widespread public support from the working class in Pakistan.

An populace disillusioned of family politics elected Khan in 2018 on an anti-corruption platform.

But his mismanagement of the economy, as well as his feud with a military accused of assisting his rise, sealed his downfall.

Since then, Khan has railed against the wealthy elite and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government, which he claims was foisted on Pakistan by a US CIA led “plot.”

Imran Khan has often told followers that he was willing to give his life to Pakistan, and aides have long warned of specific threats to his life.