Chaotic scenes broke out near Imran Khan’s reception camp at Allahwala Chowk in Gujranwala after gunshots were fired, reported local channel Geo News
Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was injured in firing during his rally in Gujranwala in Pakistan’s Punjab province and was rushed to a hospital. He was seen bandaged on his right leg and and being moved into an SUV.
The attacker, who has been arrested, fired at Imran Khan from below when the former cricketer was standing atop a container-truck to address his ongoing “long march” to Islamabad against the Shehbaz Sharif government.
The incident, about 200 km from Islamabad, comes nine months after he was unseated upon losing the army establishment’s confidence.
It brought back chilling memories of how former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was shot dead during a rally in 2007, though Mr Khan escaped serious injury, said news agencies.
Barely an hour before the firing, he had told supporters in another part of Gujranwala, where he was scheduled to deliver a speech, that they should accompany him to a different part of the city instead, promising to speak there, Geo reported. His party tweeted a video showing him boarding the container-truck from his black SUV.
عمران خان کنٹینر پر پہنچ گئے! #پاکستان_مارچ pic.twitter.com/LRAhFLH72t
— PTI (@PTIofficial) November 3, 2022
Local channel Geo News reported that chaotic scenes broke out near his reception camp at Allahwala Chowk after the gunshots rang. At least four party leaders were among those injured, it added.
Having been unseated reportedly after losing the army establishment’s confidence in April, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) leader has been demanding resignation of the new central government.