Attack on former Pakistan PM Imran Khan: The long list of bloody ends to Pakistan premiers

On March 27 this year, at a public rally in Islamabad, then-Prime Minister Imran Khan claimed that his government received a “foreign threat” that he would be deposed and his government ousted. He pulled out a piece of paper in front of the thousands-strong crowd, iterating an American conspiracy to pull down his government. 

Political observers were quick to equate the “stunt” with one pulled by former PM Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto more than four decades back. At a public meeting in Rawalpindi in the final days of his government in 1977, Bhutto waved a letter before the crowds and journalists, accusing then-US Secretary of State Cyrus Roberts Vance of threatening him over Pakistan’s nuclear programme. He was hanged two years later. 

Two assassination attempts and several threats later, Khan, however, has survived. Yet, on November 3, two men fired at him while he was leading a march at Wazirabad. Khan was hit on the leg. In August 2014, shots were fired at his convoy during a clash between PTI and PML(N) supporters at Gujranwala. That time too, Khan was leading a procession to Islamabad to force the resignation of scandal-hit PM Nawaz Sharif. 

In August 2012, the Taliban threatened to kill Khan after he announced a march to their tribal stronghold along the Afghan border to protest US drone attacks. The group said they would target Khan as he called himself a “liberal” – a term they associate with a lack of religious belief. Add to it threats issued by several political leaders, some of whom are under fire now after the latest hit job on the PTI chief. 

In its 75 years of existence, Pakistan has seen more than 20 prime ministers due to assassinations, government dissolutions, and military coups. Not a single PM could complete their full terms in office. Many former prime ministers and presidents also went into exile to save their lives.

Pakistan’s first PM Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated in 1951 while addressing a rally in Rawalpindi. In 1958, the country’s second President General Ayub Khan seized power in a military coup and continued till 1969. Following Pakistan’s humiliating defeat to India in the 1971 war which led to Bangladesh’s independence, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto took over as President. In 1973, he took over as PM and remained in power till 1977 when he was overthrown in a coup staged by Pakistan army general Zia-ul Haq.

Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif took turns leading the country several times, but could never stand up to the military. After the 1999 Kargil War, PM Nawaz Sharif was overthrown in yet another coup by Pakistan army general Pervez Musharraf and sent to jail and exile for over one decade. Musharraf himself survived at least three assassination attempts. 

In 2003, Musharraf escaped death when a bomb exploded minutes after his convoy crossed a bridge in Rawalpindi. Another attempt was made in the same year on December 25. In 2007, he escaped yet another assassination attempt when more than 30 rounds were fired at his aircraft from a submachine gun at Rawalpindi.

A series of events forced Musharraf to flee to London in 2008. Later, he was tried for treason and sentenced to death, but he never returned to Pakistan after that.

On December 27, 2007, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a suicide bombing in Rawalpindi during a political campaign. She had survived a similar attempt on her life just two months back in Karachi, an attack that killed around 180 people. 

Bhutto’s husband Asif Ali Zardari served as the 11th President of Pakistan from 2008-13. Earlier, he was incarcerated on murder and corruption charges. Upon being released in 2004, he went into self-exile in Dubai but returned to Pakistan after three years.

READ | Did former Pakistan PM Imran Khan predict his own assassination weeks before Wazirabad rally?