Firing on Imran Khan: Wanted to kill him, suspect tells police

Pakistans former prime minister Imran Khan was injured on Thursday when an unidentified gunman opened fire on the containermountedtruck carrying him during his protest march in Pakistans Punjab province but he was out of danger in what his party claimed was an assassination attemptThe incident occurred near Allahwala Chowk of Wazirabad town in Punjab when Khan was leading the long march to Islamabad demanding early electionsAsad Umar the senior leader of Khans Pakistan TehreekeInsaf party told the media that a bullet hit Khans leg He said that Khans opponent couldnt see Pakistan being transformed He however didnt blame anyone for the attackSenator Faisal Javed who was injured when a bullet grazed his face said that a party worker was killed during the attack while another was severely injuredNo group has claimed responsibility for the attack on 70yearold cricketerturned politicianAccording to eyewitnesses a gunman fired on the containermounted truck carrying Khan from a close range They said one person has been arrested from the spot and police took him to an unknown locationImran Khan was shot in the leg but was stable while being taken to hospital He waved at supporters too his party said in a tweetGeo TV reported that the attacker was identified as Naved son of Bashir The attacker in his early 20s and wearing salwarkameez had been walking along the container and fired from the left side the channel saidThe suspect caught by police has said that he wanted to kill Khan because he was misleading the publicHe Khan was misleading the people and I could not bear watching it so I attempted to kill him Dawn newspaper quoted the suspect as saying in a video statementPTI leader Imran Ismail has said that he was standing with Khan when the former prime minister was attacked It was a straight fire the bullet was meant to kill not scare he claimedSenior party leader Shahbaz Gill said that Imran Khan is our red line and an attempt has been made to cross that red lineHe also said that Khan will fight till his last breathIN PICS Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan injured in firingARY News which is considered as a mouthpiece of Khans Pakistan TehreekeInsaf party reported that Khan was out of dangerPrime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack on Khan and directed Interior Minister for an immediate report on the incidentI pray for the recovery and health of PTI chairman amp other injured people Federal government will extend all support necessary to Punjab govt for security amp investigation Violence should have no place in our countrys politics Sharif tweetedHe has instructed Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah to seek an immediate report on the incident from the policePrime Minister Sharif also postponed a press conference on his recent trip to China after the firing incident Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb tweetedPresident Arif Alvi termed the attack on Khan as heinous assassination attemptI thank Allah that he is safe but injured with few bullets in his leg amp hopefully noncritical This attack is shocking alarming disgraceful deceitful amp cowardly May Allah give him health amp to all those injured tweeted Alvi who belonged to Khans party before assuming presidencyForeign Minister and Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari strongly condemned the attack on Khan and prayed for his swift recoveryBilawals mother former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was killed during an election rally in Rawalpindi in 2007PTI leader Hammad Azhar has said that party member Ahmad Chattha was injured by two gunshots during an attack on Khans convoyHe Chattha is out of danger Azhar said adding that the wounds were not deep and he was being operated upon to remove the bulletsA video footage showed a PTI worker tackling the attacker from behind and trying to grab the gun of the attackerEhtisam who tackled the attacker told the media that he forced the gun of the attacker downward and stopped further damageIf something tragic had happened to Imran Khan in our area then we all would have been ashamed he said adding that he was sorry that he could not stop him firing the first shotInitially it was reported that Khan was safe while some people were injured However later it turned out that Khan was also injured in the attackFormer human rights minister Shireen Mazari accused the interior minister for the attack and demanded his arrestRana Sana threatened to murder IK amp today we saw him attempt that He should be arrested on attempted murder as his public statement bear witness to same she tweetedShe also said The string pullers the Establishment will also be held responsible by the nation for this murderous attack on Imran KhanKhan who was ousted from power in April after losing a noconfidence vote in his leadership has talked about a threat letter from the US and claimed that it was part of a foreign conspiracy to remove him as he was not acceptable for following an independent foreign policy The US has bluntly rejected the allegationsHe has been demanding early elections and he is leading the long march towards Islamabad to force his demands The term of the National Assembly will end in August 2023 and fresh elections should be held within 60 daysThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever