Imran Khan PTI party leader and electoral candidate shot dead in rally
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Rehan Zaib Khan, Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party leader and electoral candidate, was the target of an assassination plot.
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Supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) attend an election campaign rally in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024. (AP)
Imran Khan's party leader was shot dead in a rally on Wednesday, in the Bajur district along the Afghan border.
Rehan Zaib Khan, Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party leader and electoral candidate, was the target of an assassination plot that resulted in his death and the injury of four of his aides and three of his supporters.
Police officer Rasheed Khan reported on the incident and revealed that the plot was possibly derived from rising tensions and militant violence amid the Pakistani elections, which are set to take place on February 8.
Zaib Khan was a contestant for the National Assembly elections as an independent candidate after Pakistan's top court disallowed the PTI from running. The assassination was conducted during a rally campaign for the PTI leader.
"PTI leader from NA-8 Bajaur, Rehan Zeb Khan, was shot dead by unidentified assailants. Three of his supporters were also injured. The incident happened during Khan's election campaign," a senior official remarked.
This comes after a bombing attack that targeted another PTI rally on Tuesday, killing at least four people and injuring five others.
Threatening elections for the PTI
Zaib Khan's assassination also coincided with Imran Khan's official jail sentence.
Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were sentenced to 14 years in jail in the Toshakhana case. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed a new reference against them, accusing them of "retaining a jewelry set received from the Saudi crown prince at an undervalued assessment."
The verdict, delivered just eight days before the February 8 general elections, adds to the challenges facing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party amid a state crackdown and the absence of an electoral symbol. This comes just one day following another sentencing of Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to 10 years in prison for allegedly "disclosing state secrets".
The PTI has been allegedly backing independent candidates running in the elections but has been facing an intense state-led crackdown, widely believed to be orchestrated by Pakistan's influential military, effectively excluding Khan and his party from the election campaign.
Jamal Ahsan Khan now stands for PTI in Mianwali instead of Imran Khan, with the latter facing legal challenges and currently being incarcerated due to a graft conviction believed to be politically motivated.
Ahsan Khan highlighted the grim reality of the campaign, stating, "Our party [activists] are facing harassment, and I personally have received death threats. Throughout my life, I have never witnessed an election as intense and threatening as this one."
