KARACHI, Pakistan, Aug. 18 (UPI) — Abdul Rashid Godil, Pakistani opposition legislator, was critically injured in an assassination attempt in Karachi Tuesday.
Police said four assailants on motorcycles fired on Godil’s car while in traffic, killing his driver. Godil sustained five gunshot wounds to his neck, arm and jaw and immediately underwent surgery at a nearby hospital. There were no reports of injuries to his wife, who was also in the car.
Fearing further violence, shops in Karachi closed immediately.
The incident comes as the Pakistani government is attempting to bring the 24 legislators of Godil’s Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party back to parliament after their resignations, prompted by the arrests of several of its leaders in a military crackdown in Karachi. The crackdown also included raids on party offices. The MQM dominates political life in the city, where it has a reputation of sometimes having violent confrontation with rival parties.
The attack on Godil was an attempt to disrupt the reconciliation talks in Islamabad with the government, MQM parliamentary leader Farooq Sattar said. It has postponed the negotiations, which will continue at a later date.
Shuja Khanzada, Punjab state’s interior minister, died in a bomb attack two days ago at his office in an incident blamed on the Pakistani Taliban.
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