The two groups moved towards each other and the protesters then threw stones at the police, who responded with tear gas. Shortly afterwards, the protesters dispersed and the police reopened the junction to traffic. The brief flashpoint was one of several in cities across Pakistan – including Lahore and Karachi – as supporters of Imran Khan took to the streets following an assassination attempt on the former prime minister. The attack on Khan’s motorcade on Thursday killed one man and wounded at least 10, significantly raising the stakes in a political crisis that has gripped the South Asian nation since Khan was ousted from power in April. In a strange speech delivered from a wheelchair at a Lahore hospital on Friday, Khan accused his successor, Shehbaz Sharif, interior minister Rana Sanaullah and a senior army commander of being involved in a plot to assassinate him. “These three decided to kill me,” Khan said in his first public appearance since Thursday’s attack, adding that two gunmen were involved. Rawalpindi police gather near the protesters. Photo: Shah Meer Baloch/The Guardian He offered no evidence for his claims and the government denied any involvement, blaming the assassination attempt on a gunman fueled by religious extremism. Sharif led a coalition of parties that ousted Khan in a parliamentary vote in April. Eighteen-year-old Ali Sher was among the protesters chanting: “What do we want? Freedom’ in Rawalpindi on Friday. “We want freedom from corrupt politicians and we will not leave until Shehbaz Sharif steps down,” he said as he waved a flag with Khan’s photo. Echoing Khan’s comments, Sher alleged that Sharif was behind the attack as part of what she described as a conspiracy to keep Khan out of office. “They wanted to kill him, but his attack is not going to kill our spirit for freedom,” said Cher. Khan, 70, a former international cricket star, had led a campaign of thousands since last week from Lahore to the capital Islamabad. Khan was looking out at the crowd when bullets sprayed into his modified container truck as it drove slowly into a dense crowd in Wazirabad, about 105 miles east of Islamabad. On Friday, he repeated the call for new elections, adding: “The revolution will come either in peace or in bloodshed… I will call for the march to Islamabad as soon as I am fully recovered.” Hahn said he was shot four times, twice in each leg. A doctor who was with him in the room said that Khan was hit twice on the right thigh and twice on the left thigh and that his left tibia was broken. Noor Khan, a shopkeeper who had traveled a few hours from Nowshera to join the Rawalpindi demonstration, said: “I don’t know much about politics but… Imran Khan, whatever he says, is always right and I follow him . I don’t care about my life, I will always follow Khan. “There are protests in Nowshera too, but I came here to protest what happened to Khan and throw out this government.” In the eastern city of Lahore, large groups of protesters burned tires and blocked major roads. They also gathered outside the fortified office of the Punjab provincial governor and pelted stones at the gate, destroying security cameras and barriers. Protesters also blocked roads in the northwestern city of Peshawar and Karachi in the south. Since being forced out of office, Khan has been rallying to demand early elections. He began a march on Islamabad last week after Pakistan’s election commission barred him from public office for five years for allegedly illegally selling government gifts and hiding assets. He has challenged the exclusion in court and is awaiting a decision. Khan addressed his supporters from a hospital in Lahore on Friday. Photo: Arif Ali/AFP/Getty The Sharif government has made it clear that elections will be held as scheduled in 2023 and there will be no early elections. Khan has blamed Pakistan’s powerful military and the US for ousting him in April, which both deny. Shah Khalid, another supporter of Khan in Rawalpindi, said the army should stop interfering in politics. “There must be political supremacy in the country,” he said. “The future of this country must be decided by the masses, not through conspiracies and the military. Is enough.” A soldier deployed from the Pakistani border to maintain order at the protest site, who did not want to be named, urged Khan and Sharif to sit down and negotiate in order to “stabilize” the situation. “They should take a compromise path,” he said. “This madness must stop.” Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report
