AKRAM SHOT AT, UNHURT
VICTIM OF ROAD RAGE IN KARACHI
KARACHI: Pakistani cricket legend Wasim Akram said on Wednesday he was lucky to escape unscathed when a gunman opened fire at his car after a traffic collision.
Akram, one of the best leftarm fast bowlers ever to play the game, was on his way to coach at a training camp at the city’s National Stadium when the incident happened.
“A car hit my vehicle and when we asked the driver to pull over, he stepped out and opened fire at my car,” Akram told reporters shortly after the shooting.
“He was definitely an official,” he said of the shooter. “I have noted the number of the car and given it to the police.”
“I have no enmity with anyone,” Akram said. “If he can do this to me, what will he do to the common man?”
Initial reports had said the gunman did not aim at the cricketer. But Akram later said the man had been about to shoot him when someone revealed who he was.
“He tried to shoot me, his gun was pointing at me, then people told him my identity and he fired at the side of my car,” Akram told reporters. “Had the people not told him about me, he would have shot me.”
Senior police officer Munir Shaikh ruled out an assassination attempt or a robbery.
“This was just an incident of road rage,” he said. “We have identified the car from CCTV footage and will have the suspect in custody in a couple of hours.”
Akram, 49, is Pakistan’s alltime leading Test wicket-taker with 414 in 104 matches. He retired from playing in 2003 and is currently running a PCB fast bowling training camp at the National Stadium.