Imran Khan’s Party Holds Nationwide Protests After Assassination Attempt

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), held nationwide protests on Friday, blocking roads and scuffling with police in some areas.

Khan was shot in the leg on Thursday in an apparent assassination attempt after he reached the halfway point in his truck-borne “long march” to the national capital of Islamabad, in an effort to force snap elections so he can return to power.

Khan’s aides said on Friday that protests have spread far beyond Khan’s “long march” route and would continue until his “demand is met” for his successor Shehbaz Sharif to resign.

Sharif became prime minister after ousting Khan with a vote of no confidence in Parliament, continuing the unbroken 75-year tradition of Pakistani prime ministers getting kicked out of office in various ways before their terms end.

Khan was later accused of terrorism for threatening revenge on various officials, including a judge, once he regained power. In October, he was barred from holding public office for five years because he did not properly report expensive gifts he received from foreigners, a decision that was later walked back to let him keep running for office pending appeals. 

Khan is running for every office, all at once — his strategy for regaining the prime minister’s office is to run as the sole PTI candidate in every single legislative race. As of this week, he has personally accumulated seven seats in Parliament. Under Pakistani law, it is legal for a single person to run for and win multiple seats in the legislature, but they must choose one to keep and forfeit the others before Parliament convenes.

Reuters reported Khan supporters began demonstrating near the site in Wazirabad where Khan was shot on Thursday and near the hospital in Lahore where he is receiving treatment for his injuries. Street actions radiated across other cities from there, some of them featuring violence and vandalism.

Road blockages were reported in numerous locations across Lahore, Peshawar, and Karachi, some of them featuring burning tires. The office of the Punjab governor was pelted with stones, “destroying security cameras and barriers.” 

“It cannot stop. People are very angry, it will become more intense,” a Khan supporter explained to Reuters while waving a PTI flag.

Other Pakistanis who spoke to Reuters denounced the protests and wondered why Khan, who is said to be recovering well from his gunshot wounds, did not release a statement telling his supporters to calm down. Wazirabad in particular seems very nervous, especially since the truck Khan was riding on his march to Islamabad is still parked at the scene of the attack while police complete their investigation, turning the site into a magnet for angry PTI supporters.

Khan did release a statement through his party officials, but far from being conciliatory or calming, he accused Prime Minister Sharif, his Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, and intelligence officer Maj. Gen. Faisal Naseer of conspiring to murder him. 

Khan demanded the immediate resignation of all three, threatening demonstrations would continue unless his demands are met. As of Friday afternoon, he has not produced any evidence to support his allegations.

“The federal government hatched a conspiracy to kill Imran Khan. Hired assassin Rana Sanaullah and the federal government has brought the country to the brink of civil war,” chipped in Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, former interior minister and a close Khan aide.

“You crossed our red line … now face the music,” senior PTI member Pervez Khattak said on Friday.

Sanaullah responded by slamming the PTI for choosing a “path of destruction” and blaming the party’s combative rhetoric for inspiring violence. He said the Shiraz administration plans to “counter those forces which are adding fuel to intolerance.”

Khan delivered a brief video address on Friday in which he said he was hit by four bullets. Previous reports have stated he was hit twice, in the leg and thigh. He also claimed two shooters were involved in the attack, and one person was killed.

Khan said during his video address that he would suspend his cross-country protest “march” until he recuperates.

“I will give a call to march on Islamabad once I get better,” he said.