ICC Note: Pakistan’s Interior Minister, Ahsan Iqbal, was shot yesterday in an apparent assassination attempt. Known as a champion for Pakistan’s religious minorities, Iqbal had been meeting with Christians in Narowal before he was shot. While the motive for the shooting is still unclear, many are concerned Iqbal was targeted because of his work for religious minorities in Pakistan.  

05/07/2018 Pakistan (New York Times) – 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. The shooting, which took place in Punjab Province, left Pakistanis on edge as the country prepares to hold general elections as early as July.

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.

In the end, Mr. Iqbal’s own security detail couldn’t give him the protection he promised religious minorities, who are frequent victims of terrorist attacks as well as harassment and discrimination by the authorities. 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.

Mr. Iqbal was shot as he left a meeting and was reportedly shaking hands with a small crowd before getting into his car to depart. The minister may have been meeting with a group of Christians in his constituency of Narowal district according to a Reuters report. Narowal is about 150 miles southeast of Islamabad, the capital.

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