Imran Khan ally accuses Pakistan prime minister of shooting conspiracy

Protests spread across Pakistan on Friday after Imran Khan’s allies accused Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of being behind a conspiracy to assassinate the former leader and cricket star.

Khan, 70, who was ousted as prime minister in a no-confidence vote in April, was shot multiple times in the leg after an attacker fired at his open-top truck during a march on Thursday.

Thousands of supporters of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party gathered in and around major cities including Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, following calls from PTI leaders to protest. In some places, demonstrator blocked roads and burnt tyres, with police responding by firing tear gas.

Asad Umar, secretary-general of the PTI, said the former cricket captain made the conspiracy accusations against Sharif and other senior officials in a meeting at his hospital following the shooting, according to a video released by the PTI.

Khan said he believed Sharif, interior minister Rana Sanaullah and Major General Faisal Naseer, a senior military official, were involved in the attack on him, according to Umar. He did not provide evidence for the allegations.

“The demand is that these three must be removed,” Umar said. “Otherwise there will be nationwide protests.”

Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership all deny the allegations and have condemned the attack against Khan. Sharif on Thursday ordered an interior ministry report into the incident. “I pray for the recovery and health of the PTI chair and other injured people,” the prime minister said. The military have also put out a statement condemning the attack.

A suspect has been arrested, and in a widely circulated video released by the police, the alleged assailant confesses to trying to kill Khan for “misleading” the people, adding that he acted alone.

Mian Aslam Iqbal, another senior PTI official who appeared in the video with Umar, said the party would file a police complaint against Sharif and other administration leaders. PTI supporters demonstrated overnight following the attack.

The allegations were made in a febrile atmosphere in Pakistan, where a long history of deadly attacks on leaders has fuelled concerns of potential for further violence. Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by a suicide bomber in 2007.

“The fear was that this would lead to an outbreak of violence,” said Azeema Cheema, a director at Verso Consulting. “Neither the civilian government nor military establishment will escape public blame and criticism for this attack, regardless of the facts about who perpetuated it.”

Pakistan’s media regulator barred TV channels from broadcasting Umar’s comments on Thursday night, alleging that it was “prejudicial to maintenance of law and order” and prejudged the outcome of the investigation, according to the country’s Dawn newspaper.

Khan’s popularity has surged since he was ousted as prime minister in April, with his relentless criticism of Sharif’s government striking a chord at a time of economic crisis. Khan and his party also engaged in a rare stand-off with Pakistan’s military, with figures from both sides criticising each other in public.

Khan launched a march last Friday through Punjab, Pakistan’s largest province by population, to the capital of Islamabad to rally enough support to topple Sharif as prime minister and force early elections.

“As Pakistan’s political divide has sharpened over time, Pakistan’s political rivals have increased their hatred against each other,” said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a political analyst. “This message of hatred has spread across society.”