Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal recovering after gun attack

INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Authors: TheIndianSubcontinent News Agency Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal recovering after gun attackLahore:
blasphemy, with the attack seen as a "bad omen" for nationwide elections.Ahsan Iqbal, 59, was shot in the right arm as he prepared to leave
a public meeting in his constituency in Punjab province late Sunday.A man identified by police only as "Abid" and said to be in his early
20s was wrestled to the ground by police and bystanders as he was preparing to fire a second shot
He has been taken in to custody.The local deputy commissioner Ali Anan Qamar told AFP that the shooter said he carried out the attack over a
small amendment to the oath that election candidates must swear which was hastily reversed last year after it was linked to blasphemy.The
controversy ignited a three-week sit-in last November by a previously little-known extremist group which paralysed the capital and ended
military.At the time many Pakistanis and analysts warned that a dangerous precedent had been set in which fringe groups could bend the state
much-persecuted religious minorities, was heavily involved in the negotiations at the time
After the shooting he was rushed first to a local hospital and then airlifted to Lahore, where video footage released by his ruling Pakistan
Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) showed him being lowered from a helicopter on a stretcher, his eyes open as he responded to questions.Doctors
later said he was in stable condition.The attack was swiftly condemned by the international community, including the US ambassador and the
French embassy, as Pakistanis voiced fears it represented an attempt to "weaken democracy" ahead of the federal elections, widely expected
that he "strongly condemned" the attack, calling it "(a) bad omen for upcoming general elections that is supposed to be free, fair and
Sharif was ousted by the Supreme Court over graft allegations last summer, there has been growing speculation it could be delayed.The court
banned Sharif from politics for life, while foreign minister Khawaja Asif was also ousted by the Islamabad High Court late last month for
violating election laws.Sharif and his supporters have repeatedly denied the allegations, suggesting they are victims of a conspiracy driven
proving it will likely remain a force in the vote.Blasphemy can be punishable by death under controversial Pakistani legislation, with even
unproven allegations sparking mob lynchings and murders.Had the assassination attempt on Iqbal succeeded, it would not have been the first
political killing linked to blasphemy: in 2011 then-Punjab governor Salman Taseer, a liberal who had called for reformation of the laws, was
gunned down by his own bodyguard in broad daylight in Islamabad.Iqbal, touted as a potential prime minister when Sharif was ousted last
agenda, he previously headed up the planning ministry.In this handout photograph released by the Press Information Department (PID) Punjab
blasphemy, with the attack seen as a "bad omen" for nationwide elections.Ahsan Iqbal, 59, was shot in the right arm as he prepared to leave
a public meeting in his constituency in Punjab province late Sunday.A man identified by police only as "Abid" and said to be in his early
20s was wrestled to the ground by police and bystanders as he was preparing to fire a second shot
He has been taken in to custody.The local deputy commissioner Ali Anan Qamar told AFP that the shooter said he carried out the attack over a
small amendment to the oath that election candidates must swear which was hastily reversed last year after it was linked to blasphemy.The
controversy ignited a three-week sit-in last November by a previously little-known extremist group which paralysed the capital and ended
military.At the time many Pakistanis and analysts warned that a dangerous precedent had been set in which fringe groups could bend the state
much-persecuted religious minorities, was heavily involved in the negotiations at the time
After the shooting he was rushed first to a local hospital and then airlifted to Lahore, where video footage released by his ruling Pakistan
Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) showed him being lowered from a helicopter on a stretcher, his eyes open as he responded to questions.Doctors
later said he was in stable condition.The attack was swiftly condemned by the international community, including the US ambassador and the
French embassy, as Pakistanis voiced fears it represented an attempt to "weaken democracy" ahead of the federal elections, widely expected
that he "strongly condemned" the attack, calling it "(a) bad omen for upcoming general elections that is supposed to be free, fair and
Sharif was ousted by the Supreme Court over graft allegations last summer, there has been growing speculation it could be delayed.The court
banned Sharif from politics for life, while foreign minister Khawaja Asif was also ousted by the Islamabad High Court late last month for
violating election laws.Sharif and his supporters have repeatedly denied the allegations, suggesting they are victims of a conspiracy driven
proving it will likely remain a force in the vote.Blasphemy can be punishable by death under controversial Pakistani legislation, with even
unproven allegations sparking mob lynchings and murders.Had the assassination attempt on Iqbal succeeded, it would not have been the first
political killing linked to blasphemy: in 2011 then-Punjab governor Salman Taseer, a liberal who had called for reformation of the laws, was
gunned down by his own bodyguard in broad daylight in Islamabad.Iqbal, touted as a potential prime minister when Sharif was ousted last
agenda, he previously headed up the planning ministry.