Imran Khan 'Assassination Attempt': Liaqat Ali Khan To Bhuttos, A Look At Pakistan's Turbulent History

Months after claiming that his life was in danger, former Pakistani Prime Minister and cricketer Imran Khan’s prophecy may have turned out to be true on Thursday, November 3 when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader was allegedly shot in the foot in an attempted assassination by an unidentified gunman. The assailant opened fire on a container-mounted truck carrying the leader during his protest march in Pakistan's Punjab province. 

Pakistani media reports claim that Khan is out of danger. But the attack sheds light once again on the turbulent history of the South Asian nation which has seen several successful and unsuccessful attempts to assassinate its prime ministers, presidents and popular leaders.

Since its formation in 1947, Pakistan has had a bloody track record when it comes to the health of its heads of State who have faced everything from being hanged, shot or killed in suicide bombings.

Pakistan's first Prime Minister, Liaqat Ali Khan, was assassinated on October 16, 1951, in the Company Baugh of Rawalpindi. Often referred to as Shaheed-e-Millat, the leader was killed while he was on stage during a public meeting of the Muslim League. The stage was later named Liaqat Bagh. But the mystery continues to shroud Khan’s death. A close aide of Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah, it was during Khan’s reign that religious extremism first started gaining a foothold in Pakistan, evident in Khan's attempts to thwart it.

Influential leader and former Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was hanged by General Zia-ul Haq's military regime, in what is often considered by legal experts a ‘judicial murder’. Zia, who was the former President of Pakistan and Chief of Army Staff from 1978 to 1988, had seized power from  Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the country’s first democratically elected Prime Minister, in a bloodless coup on July 5, 1977. 

Nine years after Bhutto was hanged, Zia-Ul Haq died in a mysterious plane accident on August 17, 1988, widely believed to be a planned murder. At the time of his death, he was the chief martial-law administrator as well as the Army chief of staff. Murtaza Bhutto, brother of Benazir Bhutto, is often blamed for the killing, though nothing has been proved.

Perhaps as an ominous reminder of the nation’s violent past and a premonition of the disturbances to come, another Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in the very same Liaquat Garden, 55 years after the assassination of Khan on December 27, 2007. Benazir was the daughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. 

The two-time prime minister had previously survived an assassination attempt during the 2007 Karsaz bombing in Karachi which left 180 people, two months after her return from her self-imposed, eight-year-long exile and had been preparing to run for PM for the third time. However, the third time proved unlucky for Bhutto. To this day, it remains unclear who ordered Bhutto’s assassination, even though the killing is widely attributed to the Taliban. The incident nevertheless plunged Pakistan into chaos and to led to widespread civil unrest and protests against General Pervez Musharraf. Chants of “Dog, Musharraf, dog” rang out in the streets as rioters took to vandalism, evoking a harsh reaction from Musharraf. A decade later, however, General Musharraf in an interview admitted that those in the administration may have been involved in the assassination and may have been in touch with the Taliban, as per a 2021 report in the BBC.

The statement was a streak out of the blue and unprecedented for a Pakistani leader, acting or former, to admit complicity of the government in alleged state-sponsored murders or violence. 

Musharraf had been accused of making a threatening phone call to Bhutto while she was in exile, asking her to not come back. Musharraf has denied making such a phone call. 

In April this year, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that he had credible information that his life is in danger but asserted that he is not afraid and will continue his fight for an independent and democratic Pakistan. In an interview with ARY News ahead of the no-confidence motion in the National Assembly against him in which he was eventually ousted, Khan had claimed that the “establishment” (the Pakistani military) gave him three options - no-confidence vote, early elections or resignation as the Prime Minister. Khan had also claimed that not only his life was in danger but the Opposition, which is playing in foreign hands, would try to resort to his character assassination.

Pakistan’s Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry had also claimed at the time that a plot to assassinate then PM Khan has been reported by the country's security agencies ahead of the no-trust motion. 

In a live address to the nation, 69-year-old Khan discussed a 'threat letter' and termed it as part of a foreign conspiracy to remove him as he was not acceptable for following an independent foreign policy. He named the US as the country behind the threat letter in what appeared to be a slip of tongue. The incident was reminiscent of former PM Zulfiqar Ali Haq showing a similar letter of threat to his life at a rally in Rawalpindi ahead of his execution. 

The powerful Pakistan Army, which has ruled the coup-prone country for more than half of its 75 years of existence, has hitherto wielded considerable power in matters of security and foreign policy. 

The attack on Khan, the cricketer-turned-politician, came amid his rising volley of demands for an early election. The ousted PM has been leading a long march towards Islamabad to force his demands. The attack occurred on the seventh day of the march as it reached Allahwala Chowk of Wazirabad town in Punjab province.  The term of the current National Assembly will end in August 2023 and fresh elections need to be held within 60 days Khan has been able to mobilize mass rallies across the country in the last few months.

Following the alleged “assassination attempt”, Pakistani courts have cautioned PTI party workers and asked them to remain calm ahead of the mass protests, sit-ins and gatherings that have been planned by the party over the course of the coming week. 

Khan was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote in April and has since blamed conspiracy by his successor Shehbaaz Sharif in collusion with foreign powers as the reason behind his ouster. He claims that he was a victim of a conspiracy by his successor and the United States.

The attack raises new concerns about growing political instability in Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation with a massive population of 225 million people.

(With inputs from Agencies)