INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Authors: JordanAhsan Iqbal was out of danger, and that the attacker was arrested, said officials.LAHORE, Pakistan:
Pakistan's Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal was wounded in an apparent assassination attempt on Sunday, officials said, an incident likely
to heighten political tensions ahead of general elections expected in late July.Junior interior minister Talal Chaudhry said Iqbal was hit
by a bullet in his arm in the attack in Narowal district, his constituency in central Punjab province."The minister luckily survived
Thank God he is out of danger," Chaudhry said.The attacker was arrested immediately after the shooting, officials said.Iqbal, a senior
member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party and a staunch ally of ousted premier Nawaz Sharif, is one of the most senior
figures in government and PML-N.Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi "strongly condemned" the attack on Iqbal and called for an
immediate report into the incident by the chief of police in the vast Punjab province.A senior government source said early information
suggested Iqbal was returning from a meeting with a Christian group, though in his constituency there are other minority groups."We are not
sure whether it has got anything to do with the motive
We will know only after investigation of the attacker," said the government official.Militant attacks in Pakistan have fallen sharply over
the past few years, but Islamist militants continue to pose a threat and carry out assassinations.In the past politically motivated attacks
have also been a feature of political life in Pakistan.© Thomson Reuters 2018(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by
TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
