The former prime minister was the victim of a one-man assassination attempt that left one dead and at least ten injured.
Pakistan’s ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday accused his successor Shehbaz Sharif of involvement in a plot to kill him while he was recovering in hospital from gunshot wounds sustained at a rally the previous day.
Imran Khan says Shehbaz Sharif, who succeeded him in April after being ousted in a no-confidence motion, was behind the assassination along with Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and a senior military official.
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“These three have decided to kill me,” he said in a televised address on his party’s YouTube channel from his hospital bed in Lahore (east), on his first public appearance since Thursday’s attack. The government denied any involvement in the assassination, which it attributed to a religiously motivated man.
That attack left one dead and at least 10 wounded, adding to tensions in a country plunged into a deep political crisis since Mr Khan was ousted. Imran Khan, 70, spent a week at the head of a “long march” that had brought together several thousand of his supporters between Lahore and the capital, Islamabad, to secure the holding of early elections, the first step in his hoped-for retake of power.
Seated in a wheelchair, his right leg in a cast and the other bandaged on all sides, the former cricket champion spoke for nearly an hour, multiplying allegations against the government, army and intelligence services he accuses of contributing to his political downfall. He claimed his opponents wanted to accuse him of “desecrating the religion or the prophet” and would blame a religious extremist for his murder.
religious extremism
Rana Sanaullah had previously said at a press conference that the attack was “a very clear case of religious extremism”. “The allegations made by the defendant in the video are extremely disturbing and appalling,” he said. A suspect has been arrested and a video in which he appears to be confessing his crime has been leaked to the press. Tousled hair, hands tied behind his back, he explains that he attacked Mr Khan for “cheating the public”.
He adds that he was upset by the noisy procession, which interrupted the call to prayer. Imran Khan was speaking to supporters from the top of a container on a truck in Wazirabad, some 170 km east of the capital, on Thursday when a person fired a burst of automatic weapon fire at him.
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Several officials of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI, Pakistan Justice Movement) party were also injured. “Bullets hit my leg and as I fell there was another shot,” Mr Khan described. “It was two men. If they had been well synchronized I would not have survived. “One of them was captured and portrayed as a religious fanatic. He is not a religious fanatic: there was an elaborate plan behind it,” he said.
The suspected attacker, identified by provincial authorities as Naveed Ahmad, hails from a poor village near Wazirabad. Neighbors interviewed by AFP described him as a “simple boy” who had no acquaintance with political or religious movements.
popularity intact
For decades, Pakistan has been struggling with violent Islamist movements that have a major impact on large sections of the population. Imran Khan, who maintained a playboy reputation throughout his sporting career, has endeavored as a politician to convey the image of an ardent Muslim. Until he is accused of complacency towards radical elements. Several political assassinations have marked the country’s recent history, one of near-permanent political instability and the prominent role of the army, which has been in power for almost half of its 75 years of existence.
The first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, was shot dead at a political rally in Rawalpindi in 1951. In 2007, Benazir Bhutto, the first modern woman to rule a Muslim country, was also killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up near her vehicle as she greeted supporters, also in Rawalpindi. Imran Khan came to power in 2018 after winning the PTI general election on a populist platform that combined promises of social reform, religious conservatism and the fight against corruption.
But under his tenure, the economy deteriorated and he lost the support of the army, which has been accused of helping to get him elected. He continues to claim his ouster was the result of a “conspiracy” hatched by the United States and is adamant in his criticism of Mr Sharif’s government and the military establishment. On Friday, Imran Khan vowed to resume his “long march” as soon as possible. “The day I’m better, I’ll be back on the road,” he said. He relies on his intact popularity to get a second mandate. Power prefers to wait for the October 2023 deadline to buy itself time to get the economy back on track.
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