Imran Khan wounded by gunshot in Wazirabad

Members of his staff say that the conditions of the former prime minister are stable. The leader of the Pakistan Tahreek-e Insaf party was leading a protest march demanding early elections. According to experts, political instability is now likely to increase even more.

Islamabad (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Former Prime Minister Imran Khan was shot in the leg in Wazirabad, Punjab. Other people were also hurt.

Members of Khan’s staff said that he was taken to a hospital in Lahore where he is in stable conditions and his life is not in danger.

According to some videos posted online, the attacker was taken into custody by security forces.

A former cricket star, Khan leads the Pakistan Tahreek-e Insaf (PTI) party. When he was attacked, he was leading a protest march from Lahore to Islamabad calling for early elections.

In April, he was ousted from office in a vote of no confidence in parliament and replaced by Shehbaz Sharif at the helm of a new government.

Once informed of the attack, Mr Sharif postponed a press conference on his recent trip to China and condemned the armed attack. Sharif ordered the Interior minister to launch an immediate investigation.

Over the past few months, Imran Khan has been mobilising his supporters, calling for early elections; for its part, the government insisted that an election would go ahead in the fall of next year as planned.

The former prime minister attempted to lead a march on the capital in May, but was unsuccessful.

Fawad Chaudhry, a well-known PTI member and information minister during Imran Khan's administration, said that “it was an attack on the whole of Pakistan."

According to experts, today's incident risks increasing political instability and the country's economic crisis.

When he was in power, Khan rejected the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund to pursue populist reforms, with a negative impact on the country’s currency, the rupee, whose value fell.

After the floods of recent months, Pakistan needs even more international aid to revive its economy.

• pakistan
• imran khan
• attack
• leg wound
• economic crisis
• floods
• elections
• march