Pakistan’s Imran Khan injured in apparent assassination attempt

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Imran Khan has been wounded in an apparent assassination attempt during a rally in Pakistan, according to officials.

Khan was injured in his leg and was not in a critical condition, Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur, a senator from his Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf party, told the Financial Times. A senior police official confirmed that Khan was injured but safe.

Local media reported that an assailant fired on Khan’s convoy as the former leader travelled through the Pakistani city of Wazirabad, part of a march through the country intended to challenge the government of prime minister Shehbaz Sharif.

PTI officials said that several others appeared to be injured in the shooting, with Taimur saying that at least four were injured. These included other senior party officials. Taimur added that at least one person had been arrested.

Prime Minister Sharif “severely condemned” the violence, according to Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper.

“Violence should have no place in our country’s politics,” Sharif said. The prime minister said he had ordered the interior minister to make an immediate report on the incident.

Ahsan Iqbal, planning minister and senior leader from Sharif’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, added: “Thank God [Khan] is safe. There is no room for violence in politics. I strongly condemn the incident.”

The former cricket star last Friday launched a week-long march through Pakistan’s largest province, Punjab, to the capital Islamabad, in an effort to whip up a large enough show of support to topple Sharif as prime minister.

Since his removal as prime minister in a no-confidence vote in April, Khan’s support has soared as his populist messaging strikes a chord at a time of painful inflation.

But Pakistan’s election commission last month barred Khan from holding office over allegations he mishandled gifts he received while prime minister.

The former prime minister has also engaged in a rare stand-off with Pakistan’s powerful military, which last week held an extraordinary press conference where the head of the intelligence services appeared to publicly criticise Khan’s “unconstitutional wishes”.

On Monday, Khan wrote of the crowds accompanying him on the march to the capital that for six months he had been “witnessing a revolution”.

“[The] only question is will it be a soft one through the ballot box or a destructive one through bloodshed?” he wrote.