Assailant linked to hardline party
islamabad — A suspect who was arrested for the assassination attempt on Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Sunday has a declared affiliation with the Tehreek-i-Labbaik, say media reports.
In a preliminary report sent to the Punjab chief secretary hours after the attack, the Narowal deputy commissioner reported that the suspect had identified himself as Abid Hussain, son of Mohammad Hussain, a resident of Verum village of Narowal district.
“He further showed his affiliation with Thereek-e-Labbiak,” the deputy comissinoer letter read.
Police are still investigating, but local deputy commissioner Ali Anan Qamar told that the shooter said he was inspired by a controversy last year in which a small amendment to the oath election candidates must swear had to be hastily reversed after it was linked to blasphemy.
The row sparked a three-week sit-in last November by a previously little-known religious group, (Thereek-e-Labbiak Pakistan) which paralysed the capital.
That demonstration ended when the government capitulated to the protesters’ demands — including the ousting of the federal law minister — in a deal brokered by the military.
At the time many Pakistanis and analysts warned that a dangerous precedent had been set in which fringe groups could bend the state to their will by citing blasphemy, a highly inflammatory charge in the conservative Muslim country.
Iqbal, a champion of Pakistan’s religious minorities who has condemned hate speech against them, pushed for a negotiated settlement to the controversy.
Police said they were investigating links between Hussain and the controversy, including the small militant party at the centre of it.
The attack was swiftly condemned by the international community as Pakistanis voiced fears it represented an attempt to weaken democracy ahead of the federal elections.
The elections are set to be only the second ever democratic transition in the country, and are widely expected to be held late this summer.— AFP, APP