On Thursday, former PM Imran Khan was shot and injured in the leg during a rally in Wazirabad, a city in eastern Punjab province. The shooter, identified as Naveed Mohammad Bashir, was interrogated by police. He was reportedly following Khan’s convoy and intended to kill him. "Imran Khan was misleading the people, and I couldn’t take it anymore. My objective was to kill him, and just him," he said. Eight other leaders of Khan's party were also injured. As we wrote about recently, political long marches in Pakistan rarely end well — and this time was no different. Soon after Khan kicked off his march to demand a snap election that he thinks will return him to power, the head of Pakistan's shadowy ISI intelligence services warned in a rare press conference that there could be violence. So, what happens now? It really depends on how soon the ousted former PM recovers from his injuries and whether the military — once again — steps in to restore order. There's no love lost between Khan and the army, but it's the men in uniform who — directly or indirectly — call all the shots in Pakistan. Still, as GZERO's own Waj Khan tweets, the army-backed government has two options now: placate Khan by agreeing to hold an early election or shut it all down if the violence gets out of hand.
