Imran Khan's Supporters Hold Protests Across Pakistan
Imran Khan, 70, suffered bullet injuries in the right leg when two gunmen fired at him on Thursday, where he was leading a protest march against the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Angry supporters of Imran Khan took to the streets across Pakistan. (Representational)
Islamabad:
Angry supporters of Imran Khan took to the streets across Pakistan after Friday prayers to protest against the assassination bid on the ousted prime minister who, in a dramatic address to the nation from a hospital, vowed to resume his march to Islamabad demanding fresh general elections.
While Mr Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party insisted that Thursday's attack was a "prelude to a well-thought-out conspiracy" to assassinate their leader, the federal government has asked the PTI-led Punjab provincial government to constitute a high-level joint investigation team (JIT) for a thorough probe to bring facts to light.
Imran Khan, 70, suffered bullet injuries in the right leg when two gunmen fired at him on Thursday in the Wazirabad area of Punjab province, where he was leading a protest march against the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Addressing the nation for the first time from his Shaukat Khanum Hospital in Lahore where he is being treated, Mr Khan, whose right leg was plastered, vowed to take to the streets once he has recovered from his injuries.
"As soon as I get well, I have decided to take to the streets and will give the call for Islamabad," he said in his one hour-45 minutes speech, during which he attacked the government led by Prime Minister Sharif.
Meanwhile, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said that allegations by Mr Khan were all lies and concocted.
"He still thinks with all this drama and speaking false stories he can fool all the people all the time," she said addressing a press conference after Mr Khan's address.
"It has been his idea to lie so much that it begins to seem like the truth," she said.
Mr Khan said he was hit by four bullets.
Dr Faisal Sultan, who is treating the cricketer-turned-politician, said X-rays of Imran Khan's right leg showed that his tibia was damaged and in fact fractured.
"In this scan, the line you see on right leg is the main artery. The bullet fragments were very near it," Sultan said. He described the attack on his life and said he was on the container when a "burst of bullets" was directed at him, causing him to get shot in the leg and fall down.
"Then a second burst comes, there were two people," he said, narrating the incident.