LAHORE: Qasim and Sulaiman Khan, children of former prime minister Imran Khan, landed in Lahore on Thursday to meet their father who is recovering a week after being shot in an apparent assassination attempt, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party said.
Mian Aslam Iqbal, Punjab minister for industries and commerce, and Omar Sarfraz Cheema, advisor to the chief minister on home and prisons, received the young men at Lahore airport after which they departed in a bulletproof car for the Zaman Park neighbourhood where Khan is living with his wife, Bushra Maneka, since the attack.
چئیرمین تحریک انصاف عمران خان @ImranKhanPTI کے صاحبزادے قاسم اور سلمان لاہور پہنچ گئے۔
سینئر صوبائی وزیر میاں اسلم اقبال @MMAslamIqbal نے استقبال کیا
زمان پارک اپنے والدکی تیمارداری کے لیے روانہ pic.twitter.com/nnQFkOdwGu— PTI Lahore (@PTIOfficialLHR) November 10, 2022
Khan was wounded last Thursday after at least two gunmen opened fire on a convoy carrying the former prime minister as he led the protest march on Islamabad to demand snap elections. He was shot in his lower leg but was reported stable in an incident described by his supporters as an assassination attempt.
Following the shooting, the party said Khan — who until then hadn’t met his children in over two years — has also spoken to his children and former spouse Jemima Goldsmith who now live in London, among other members of his family.
“The news we dread,” tweeted Goldsmith, responding to the news of the attack. “Thank God he’s okay. And thank you from his sons to the heroic man in the crowd who tackled the gunman.”
The news we dread…
Thank God he’s okay. And thank you from his sons to the heroic man in the crowd who tackled the gunman. https://t.co/DGoxlJGwxb— Jemima Goldsmith (@Jemima_Khan) November 3, 2022
In an interview aired late on Wednesday, Khan told British journalist Piers Morgan he hoped to “see my sons soon”. “My oldest son always wanted me out of politics […] but I feel we human beings have a responsibility to society.”
“My oldest son always wanted me out of politics…
“But I feel we human beings have a responsibility to society.”
Imran Khan has no plans to step out of public life after being shot last week.@ImranKhanPTI | @piersmorgan | @TalkTV | #PMU pic.twitter.com/sF1cpD9O15
— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) November 10, 2022
Meanwhile, thousands of Khan’s supporters resumed the long march on the capital. Fawad Chaudhry, senior vice president of the party, said the protest resumed from Wazirabad where the former prime minister narrowly escaped the attempt on his life.
