New Delhi: Assassination attempts on Prime Ministers, as well as other political figures of importance, in Pakistan, is not a novelty. The history of such violence in the nation dates back to the early 1950s, shortly after independence, and rages on even today: the latest instance involving former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who remains under treatment at the time of this report.
Successful assassinations:
- October 10, 1951: The country's first Prime Minister, Liaqat Ali Khan, was shot dead in Rawalpindi.
- 9.5.1958: The second high-profile murder was that of an important NWFP politician, Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan. Khan was popularly known as Khan Sahib and was the brother of legendary freedom fighter Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan.
- 1975: Hayat Mohammad Hayat Khan Sherpao, Former Governor of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, was assassinated in a bomb explosion. He was one of the co-founders of the Pakistan People’s Party.
- October 3, 1991: Former Governor and Chief Minister, Lieutenant General Fazl-e-Haq killed by an unknown assailant in Peshawar.
- September, 1996: Former Premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s elder son, Mir Murtaza Bhutto, killed in Karachi.
- December 27, 2007: Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a shooting and suicide bombing at Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi.
- January 4, 2011: Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was killed by his own bodyguard in Islamabad.
- March 2, 2011: The then Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti gunned down in Islamabad.
- July 2018: Just 14 days before the polls, senior Awami National Party leader, Barrister Haroon Bilour, and 13 other persons had lost their lives while at least 45 others were wounded when a suicide bomber targeted an election rally of the party in Peshawar.
- July 24, 2018: Ikramullah Gandapur, a former provincial minister and senior leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, was killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up near his car in Dera Ismail Khan district.
Failed attempts:
- December 14, 2003: General Musharraf had survived an elimination attempt when a powerful bomb went off minutes after his highly-guarded convoy crossed a bridge in Rawalpindi. He was apparently saved by a jamming device in his limousine that prevented a remote-controlled explosive from blowing up the vehicle while the convoy crossed over the bridge.
- August 2, 2004: Former Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Mohammad Yousaf escapes an assassination bid when unidentified persons fired at his convoy.
- September 10, 2010: Balochistan’s provincial finance minister Asim Ali Kurd, survives a suicide car bomb attack at his Quetta residence.
