Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan says two shooters had tried to assassinate him in the city of Wazirabad the day before, opening fire at a protest march he was leading to the capital Islamabad.
They killed one person and injured 11 others in Thursday’s attack, Khan said, speaking in a live address from a hospital in Lahore where he has been receiving medical treatment.
Mr Khan said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and intelligence official Major-General Faisal Naseer had been involved in the attack but he provided no evidence for his claim.
Rana Sanaullah rejected the allegation and said the Sharif-led coalition government demanded an independent high-powered investigation.
Sharif also condemned the shooting and ordered an immediate investigation.
The media wing of Pakistan’s military called the allegations “baseless and irresponsible”.
“The government of Pakistan has been requested to investigate the matter and initiate legal action against those responsible for defamation and false accusations against the institution and its officials without any evidence whatsoever,” the military’s Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.
“I will give a call to march on Islamabad once I get better,” Imran Khan, a former international cricket star-turned-politician, said from the hospital in Lahore.
Hundreds of angry protesters clashed with police in Pakistan’s major cities on Friday after the attack on Khan’s convoy was blamed on the government.
Mr Khan’s followers threw stones at security forces at one of the major entrances of the capital Islamabad, police official Mohamed Irshad said.
Police reacted by firing tear gas shells and rubber bullets at protesters.
In the eastern city of Lahore, several hundred protesters set the main gate of the governor’s house in the central province of Punjab on fire and blocked several roads in the city of more than 10 million people, local official Abdul Shakoor said.
In the country’s financial capital Karachi in the south, police and protesters engaged in clashes for several hours.
Dozens of protesters were arrested.
Police arrested a suspect immediately after the attack who had confessed to shooting at Imran Khan in a bid to kill him.
Footage shot during the interrogation of the shooter suggested he was religiously motivated.
He was angry at Mr Khan’s alleged statements equating his political struggle to that of Muslim Prophet Mohammed.
with DPA
