Thursday’s attack on his convoy – apparently carried out by a single gunman – left one dead and at least ten injured, further heightening tension in a country that has been plunged into a deep political crisis since Mr Khan was ousted from power in april.
The former cricket star was “in stable condition and doing well” in a hospital in Lahore (East), his doctor Faisal Sultan told AFP on Friday morning.
Mr. Khan, 70, launched a “long march” on Friday bringing together several thousand of his supporters between Lahore and the capital Islamabad, to obtain the holding of early elections, the first step in his hoped-for regaining power.
He was hit by at least one bullet in the right leg when an individual fired a burst of automatic pistol towards the top of a container on top of a lorry, from where Mr Khan used to address to the crowd since the start of the march.
The assassination attempt took place as the vehicle slowly drove through the large crowd gathered in Wazirabad, about 170 km east of the capital.
“Everyone standing in the front row was hit,” Fawad Chaudhry, a former information minister in the Khan government behind which he stood, told AFP.
It was an “attempt to kill him, to assassinate him”, one of Mr. Khan’s close advisers, Raoof Hasan, told AFP.
Several officials from his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI, Pakistan Justice Movement), are among the injured. The PTI accused the government of being behind the attack, which it strongly denied.
– Crime scene –
Mr Chaudhry said PTI officials would meet on Friday to discuss strategy for the “long march”, while promising that it would continue.
“The long march for true freedom will continue and the movement for people’s rights will continue until there is an election announcement,” he tweeted.
Since his overthrow in a no-confidence motion in April, Mr Khan has consistently demanded an immediate election, banking on his unsullied popularity to secure a second term.
The government prefers to wait for the October 2023 deadline to give itself time to get the economy back on track and make it a campaign argument.
On Friday morning, Mr. Khan’s truck became a crime scene. The perimeter is cordoned off and guarded by commandos, while the scientific police sift through the premises.
Overnight, thousands of Khan supporters gathered at the spot, many waving banners with politicized slogans.
Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb announced on Thursday that an assailant had been apprehended, and shared a video circulating online in which he justifies his action.
“I did it because (Khan) was cheating the public. I tried to kill him, I did my best,” the man with disheveled hair, his hands tied behind his back, explains to the inside what appears to be a police station.
He adds that he was angered by the noise emanating from the procession at the time of the call to prayer.
– Wide support –
Several political assassinations have marked the recent history of the country, which has also been struggling for decades with violent Islamist movements contesting the influence of the central power.
This attack notably brings back the memory of the attack which cost the life in 2007 of Benazir Bhutto, the first woman of the modern era to have led a Muslim country. The sponsors of his assassination have never been identified.
Shots were fired and a suicide bomber blew himself up near her vehicle as she greeted her supporters in Rawalpindi. She had returned to Pakistan a few weeks earlier to take part in the elections, after several years in exile.
Despite his ouster, Mr. Khan enjoys broad public support. Since April, he has held massive rallies across the country – drawing tens of thousands of supporters – to pressure the fragile ruling coalition.
He continues to claim that his fall was the result of a “conspiracy” hatched by the United States, and relentlessly criticizes the government of his successor, Shehbaz Sharif, as well as the military establishment.
Imran Khan came to power in 2018, after the victory in the legislative elections of the PTI, on a populist platform combining promises of social reforms, religious conservatism and the fight against corruption.
But under his tenure, the economic situation deteriorated and he lost the support of the army, which was accused of having helped get him elected.
In recent months, he has repeatedly declared himself ready to die for his country, and his entourage has often reported threats against him.
