Islamabad: Ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan was injured in the shin on Thursday when his rally was shot at in the country’s east on Thursday, an aide said.
A member of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said a few colleagues were also injured amid reports one had been killed. “A man opened fire with an automatic weapon. Some people are injured. Imran Khan is also injured,” Asad Umar told the media. Khan was taken to the hospital.
The attack happened in Wazirabad, nearly 200 km (120 miles) from the capital, Islamabad. Former PM Khan was leading a protest march in Islamabad to demand snap elections. There were hundreds of people in the convoy. PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry said that a bullet hit Khan’s shin.
“Imran Khan and (party colleague) Faisal Javed got bullet wounds. A bullet hit Khan’s shin. Both have been taken to hospital for treatment,” Chaudhry told the media.
Javed, who had blood smudges on his clothes, told Geo TV from the hospital that “several of our colleagues are wounded. We heard that one of them is dead”.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the shooting and ordered the interior minister to look for an immediate investigation. Since being expelled in April through a parliamentary vote, Khan has held rallies across Pakistan, blending opposition against a government that is struggling to bring the economy out of the crisis that Khan’s administration left it in. Khan had planned to lead the motorized caravan gradually northwards up the Grand Trunk Road to Islamabad, drawing more support along the way before entering the capital.
“I want that all of you participate. This is not for politics or personal gain, or to topple the government… this is to bring genuine freedom to the country,” Khan said in a video message on the eve of the march.
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