ISLAMABAD: The lawmakers in National Assembly on Thursday strongly condemned the assassination bid on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan at his party’s long march at Wazirabad.

Khan was shot in the leg, according to two party leaders. He was taken to Lahore by road where his condition is reportedly stable as doctors have started his treatment at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital.

The lawmakers belonging to all political parties in the lower house of parliament were unanimous in condemning the life attempt on Khan, saying no political leaders should be targeted like this regardless of the political differences.

Khawaja Asif of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), who is the federal minister for defence, strongly condemned the incident of firing on the former prime minister.

He called for resolving the issues confronting the country through dialogue, saying there should be no room for extremism in politics.

He said “politicians should avoid using a language which gives birth to extremism and there is a need to learn from what happened today, as it is quite unfortunate.”

He prayed for the early recovery of the injured, adding the rising trend of violent behaviour and intolerance in Pakistan’s politics should also be condemned.

He said it was very unfortunate that some of the politicians used aggressive language, which prompted their followers to turn violent toward political opponents.

He said the trend to use politics for personal score-settling should be avoided to promote tolerance in society.

He said politics was the name of dialogue and resolving issues peacefully.

Speaking on the occasion, Akhtar Mengal of Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) said that politicians should not shut the doors of dialogue.

He said his party believed in the ballot and not the bullet, adding democracy should be based on the Constitution and should not follow the GHQ.

Maulana Abdul Akber Chitral said his party – Jamaat-e-Islami – was ready for playing the role a mediator between the PTI and the government if they were ready for it.

He said politicians should sit at the negotiation table by setting aside their egos to promote tolerance in society as it was the need of the hour.

He also strongly condemned the assassination attempt on the PTI chairman, saying those kinds of things must come to an end.

Noor Alam Khan, a dissident PTI MNA, also condemned the attack on Imran Khan. He said a thorough probe should be carried out into the incident.

Speaker National Assembly, Raja Pervez Ashraf, also condemned the incident of firing on the PTI chief and prayed for the early recovery of the injured.

The house was adjourned due to lack of quorum.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022