PTI Convoy Attacked in Wazirabad, Leaving One Killed and 7 Injured

Catherine Yu 

Pakistan & Human Rights Researcher

Global Human Rights Defence

An assassination attempt against former Prime Minister Imran Khan occurred on Thursday during the long march as the PTI chief's container arrived at Wazirabad's Allah Wala Chowk. Imran Khan and six other party leaders and workers were wounded during the attack, later also claiming the life of party employee Muazzam Nawaz. Minister of Information and Broadcasting of Pakistan Fawad Chaudhry told Reuters that “It was a clear assassination attempt. Khan was hit but he’s stable. There was a lot of bleeding”, “if the shooter had not been stopped by people there, the entire PTI leadership would have been wiped out” (Chaudhry, 2022).

Rescue officials along with PTI have also stated that due to the firing, ten other people were injured including one child. Hours after the incident a video message was released by PTI leader Asad Umar on behalf of party chairman Imran Khan, stating that Khan has named three suspects responsible for the attack. Furthermore, the attempted assassination elicited mass condemnation across political lines, with many throwing the blame towards PML-N’s Rana Sana as “he was giving threats of a fatal attack for many days by saying words like ’crushing the head” says PTI’s Shahbaz Gill (Gill, 2022). 

Sources and further reading:

Chaudhry, F. (2022), DAWN. Retrieved November 3, 2022, from https://www.dawn.com/news/1718659/one-killed-7-injured-in-attack-on-ptis-convoy-in-wazirabad 

Dawn, Reuters, Gabol, I., & Waqar, A. (2022, November 3). One killed, 7 injured in attack on PTI's convoy in Wazirabad. DAWN. Retrieved November 3, 2022, from https://www.dawn.com/news/1718659/one-killed-7-injured-in-attack-on-ptis-convoy-in-wazirabad   

Gill, S. (2022), DAWN. Retrieved November 3, 2022, from https://www.dawn.com/news/1718659/one-killed-7-injured-in-attack-on-ptis-convoy-in-wazirabad