PhotoKARACHI, Pakistan — Pakistan’s interior minister narrowly escaped an apparent assassination attempt Sunday evening when a gunman slipped into a small crowd of supporters and colleagues surrounding the minister, firing a shot that pierced his right shoulder. The attacker was quickly apprehended and the minister, Ahsan Iqbal, taken to a hospital; government officials said he was in stable condition. Although a motive for the shooting has yet to be declared, Mr. Iqbal is a staunch supporter of Pakistan’s religious minorities, often considered heretics by the country’s radicalized offshoots of Sunni Islam. Mr. Iqbal met with religious minorities across Pakistan in recent weeks, encouraging them to go to the polls and promising to provide security to nervous constituents. This past week, the minister met with Hazaras, who practice Shiite Islam, listening to their complaints of widespread discrimination at the hands of the police forces that Mr. Iqbal leads.

Source: New York Times May 06, 2018 20:03 UTC