Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - HT Navi Mumbai Live
Kerala’s guv hits out at CM over smuggling case
Imran Khan was on the 6th day of a protest procession heading to Islamabad to demand snap elections. He was standing on top of a container when shots rang out. In videos shared on Twitter, Imran and those beside him are seen ducking as loud bangs are heard.
The gunman, later identified by officials as Faisal Butt, was arrested. Police later released a video of him in custody, where he confessed to the shooting. Officers recovered a pistol from him. Unconfirmed reports mentioned another gunman with an automatic rifle
Later, party leaders said Imran had been shot in the leg in what they described as a “clear assassination attempt” He underwent surgery to remove bullet fragments in his leg, they said
— spokesperson, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
— In a televised statement
Pakistan has a decades-long history of political assassinations
the first elected female leader of Pak, was killed in 2007. She had survived an attempt on her life only a few weeks prior
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The raging tussle between the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala and governor Arif Mohammad Khan escalated further on Thursday, with latter raising the gold smuggling controversy to target chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, accusing his office of “patronising illegal activities” in the state.
Talking to reporters in Delhi, Khan said though he has never interfered earlier, the alleged patronising of smuggling activities by the chief minister’s office and people close to the CM are grounds enough for him to step in now. “I have never interfered. But now I see all smuggling activities are patronised by the office of the chief minister’s office. Now books are being written. People sitting in the CMO dictate to Kannur University VC to appoint their relatives — underqualified and unqualified,” he said.
The governor also rejected
Benazir’s father, was ousted as PM by Gen Mohammed Zia ul-Haq in a coup and hanged later allegations of interference in appointments in state’s universities levelled against him by LDF leaders. At a convention in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday, Vijayan and other LDF leaders attacked the governor by alleging that he was trying to implement the agenda of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in state universities. “He is trying to undermine the progress in the higher education sector and trying to implement the saffron agenda,” Vijayan said at the event. “He wants to form a parallel government but we will oppose it strongly.”
Khan offered to resign if the chief minister could show one died in a plane crash in 1988 that investigators said appeared to be sabotage example of his interference in appointment of varsity vice chancellors. “When you make such a serious charge against me, you have to substantiate it,” he said.
“They (Left government, CM) are saying I am doing this (action against VCs) to bring RSS people. If I have nominated even one person, not just of RSS, any person, on my own using my authority, then I will resign,” said Khan. “Will he (CM) be able to resign if he is not able to approve his oftrepeated charges?”
He also rejected the LDF leaders’ allegation that he was a nominee of the RSS. “If I point out serious lapses in varsities, how can I become RSS overnight. I cannot be a silent spectator to illegal appointments,” he said.
The gold smuggling case surfaced in July 2020 and has since witnessed several twists and turns. It came to light after 30kg of gold was seized from a baggage from the United Arab Emirates consulate in Thiruvananthapuram by the sleuths of Customs department.
Among the wounded was
a PTI legislator, who was seen in a video with bloodstained clothes, saying the attack would not stop Khan's protest march
The attack raised new concerns about growing political instability in
Pakistan since Khan's ouster in a no-confidence vote in April. Since
then, he has mobilised mass rallies with claims that he was a victim of a conspiracy by his successor Shehbaz Sharif
and the United States.