World reacts to assassination attempt on Imran Khan
In what appeared to be an assassination attempt, former prime minister Imran Khan was shot at and injured on Thursday evening when a suspect, standing in front of the container carrying the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief and senior party leaders, showered a volley of bullets with an automatic pistol when the party’s ‘Haqaaqi Azadi’ march reached Wazirabad’s Allahwala Chowk.
He sustained a bullet injury to his leg and has now been shifted to Shaukat Khanum Hospital in Lahore.
The police said that the suspect who opened fire on Khan’s container has been arrested. Several other people, including PTI leader Faisal Javed, also sustained injuries.
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the Pakistan Army, and other politicians and government leaders have condemned the attack and called for an immediate investigation into the matter.
The attack has not only been condemned by Pakistani political leaders, activists, and social media users but people from around the world have also expressed shock and concern.
The prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau “strongly condemned this violence”, adding that the attack was “completely unacceptable”.
Khan’s ex-wife Jemima Goldsmith called the man who foiled the assassination attempt on Khan a “hero” and posted his image on her Twitter.
Praying for the chairman’s “swift recovery”, Mehbooba Mufti, the president of the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party condemned the “cowardly attack”.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, Arindam Baghchi said that they were “closely following the situation.”
Simranjit Singh Mann, who is a Member Of Parliament (Lok Sabha), striving for a separate state for Sikhs, thanked God that Khan had survived the attack. “Political differences should be sorted out on the table, not at shootouts,” he said.
Ramazan Izoi, President of the Turkic World Youth Council, called the attack “vile” saying that Khan “sacrificed his life for the people of Pakistan and risked it”.
“There is no room for violence in politics,” said Elizabeth Threlkeld, a senior fellow at Stimson Centre, wishing a “speedy recover to Imran Khan”.
Malala Yousufzai said that “attacks on leaders of any political belief or party are always wrong”, wishing the chairman “full recovery”.
Indian journalist Pramod Kumar Singh retweeted an old tweet by an “astrologer friend” who had asked Khan to be careful on road, saying that there was danger ahead.
Michael Kugelman, South Asia Institute Director at The Wilson Center said that the matter could have been “much worse” if a brave man had not intervened.