Pakistan interior minister’s attacker linked to new religious party

A Pakistani policeman stands guard outside a hospital where country interior minister Ahsan Iqbal shifted after the assassination attempt in Lahore on May 7, 2018. (AFP)

• Police are trying to determine if the bid on Ahsan Iqbal’s life was a lone-wolf attack or involved more people.
• Abid Hussain, 22, is reportedly linked to Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP).

ISLAMABAD: The would-be assassin of Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal is affiliated with the new religious-political party Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), led by firebrand cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, according to a preliminary police report obtained by Arab News.
The party rose to prominence in November 2017 by blocking the federal capital’s exits and entrances in a sit-in for 20 days until protestors’ demands were met in an army-backed deal.
The shooter Abid Hussain on Sunday “fired a bullet with (a) 30 bore pistol which passed (through Iqbal’s) right arm” and ricocheted internally to his groin, said the report. 
Iqbal was given first aid at a hospital before being airlifted to Lahore for further treatment. He is now recovering.
Asim Khan Niazi, spokesman for the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms, told Arab News that Iqbal “is fine but still in the intensive care unit. The doctors will examine him on Tuesday, and hopefully he’ll be shifted to a private room.”
Hussain was apprehended by security forces before he could fire another shot. He lives in a village in Narowal, a city in Punjab province. He “showed his affiliation with Tehreek-e-Labaik,” said the police report. 
The police are trying to determine if the bid on Iqbal’s life was a lone-wolf attack or involved more people.
TLP’s leadership has condemned the attack and called for a judicial inquiry. The party maintains that its mandate is peaceful and rooted in bringing about positive social change via democratic means.