Pakistani political leaders who were assassinated

LAHORE: Also categorized as a premier national politician, globally-renowned religious cleric, Maulana Samiul Haq, now features among innumerable Pakistani political leaders who have been assassinated since country's inception in 1947.

Pakistan's political history is thus littered with numerous patches of flux and turmoil. Here follows the list of many Pakistani prime ministers, presidents, governors, chief ministers, sitting and former ministers, eminent front-line politicians, highly placed army and police officials etc who have been killed since 1951:

On October 16, 1951, country’s first Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan was shot dead in Rawalpindi. After Liaquat Ali Khan’s assassination, the second high-profile murder was that of an important NWFP politician Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan (popularly known as Dr. Khan Sahib).

Dr, Khan Sahib was assassinated on May 9, 1958 at his son Sadullah Khan’s 16 Aikman Road, GOR, Lahore residence by a disgruntled Mianwali-based Land Revenue clerk Atta Mohammad. He was waiting for Colonel Syed Abid Hussein of Jhang (father of known politician Syeda Abida Hussain) to accompany him to a meeting organized in connection with the scheduled February 1959 General Elections.

Dr Khan sahib was the brother of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Baccha Khan) and uncle of late Khan Abdul Wali Khan. Former Governor of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Hayat Mohammad Hayat Khan Sherpao, was assassinated in 1975 in a bomb explosion. He was one of the co-founders of the Pakistan People’s Party.

Chaudhary Zahoor Elahi was murdered in 1981 in Lahore.

In September 1982, the 37-year-old Jang Group journalist Zahoorul Hasan Bhopali, also a local politician had died in a Karachi hospital after four men had burst into his office and opened fire with a submachine gun and revolvers.

Former Martial Law Administrator of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, former Governor and Chief Minister, Lieutenant General Fazl-e- Haq, was assassinated by an unknown assailant on October 3, 1991 at Peshawar.

Former Punjab Chief Minister, Ghulam Haider Wyne, was gunned down in 1993.

Former Premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s elder son, Mir Murtaza Bhutto, was killed in Karachi in September 1996.

Former Sindh Governor, Hakim Said, was killed in Karachi in 1998.

Siddiq Khan Kanju, former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, was killed in July 2001.

On October 6, 2003, MNA Maulana Azam Tariq (chief of the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan) was assassinated by unidentified gunmen in Islamabad.

On December 14, 2003, General Musharraf had survived an elimination attempt when a powerful bomb went off minutes after his highly-guarded convoy crossed a bridge in Rawalpindi.

Musharraf was apparently saved by a jamming device in his limousine that prevented the remote controlled explosives from blowing up the bridge as his convoy passed over it.

On December 25 of the same year, another attempt was made to assassinate Musharraf, but the then president had miraculously survived.

On July 30, 2004, PM-elect Shaukat Aziz had escaped unhurt in a suicide attack on his election rally at Fateh Jang, Attock District.

On August 2, the then Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Mohammad Yousaf had escaped an assassination bid, when unidentified persons fired at his convoy.

On February 20, 2007, Punjab Minister for Social Welfare Zil-e-Huma Usman was shot down in Gujranwala. Her assassin, Mohammed Sarwar, was reported to have been motivated by her refusal to abide by the Islamic code of dress and a dislike for the involvement of women in political affairs.

On April 28, 2007, the then Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao was the target of a suicide attack that had killed 28 people at Charsadda.

On July 6, 2007, General Musharraf had escaped yet another attempt on his life when around 36 rounds fired at his aircraft from a submachine gun at Rawalpindi.

On July 27, 2007, Balochistan government’s spokesman Raziq Bugti was shot dead by assailants at Quetta.

On November 9, 2007, the then Federal Political Affairs Minister and PML-Q Provincial President Amir Muqam, had survived a suicide attack at his residence. Ami Muqam has beaten death about half a dozen times till date.

On December 21, 2007, a suicide bomb blast again unsuccessfully targeted former Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao.

On December 27, 2007, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a shooting and suicide bombing at Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi.

On December 28, 2007, a former PML-Q minister Asfandyar Amirzaib (the grandson of Wali-e-Swat) was killed by a roadside bomb in Swat.

On August 25, 2008, ANP MPA Waqar Ahmed’s brother and other family members were killed by a rocket attack at his Swat residence.

On October 2, 2008, a suicide attack targeted the house of ANP leader Asfandyar Wali Khan in Walibagh, Charsadda, though the target managed to survive the hit.

On January 26, 2009, Hussain Ali Yousafi (Chairman of the Hazara Democratic Party) was shot dead at Quetta.

On February 11, 2009, an ANP provincial lawmaker Alam Zeb Khan was killed in a remote-controlled blast at Peshawar. This was the sixth such attack on ANP in less than a year.

On October 25, 2009, the Punjabi-born Balochistan Education Minister Shafiq Ahmed Khan, was shot dead outside his residence at Quetta. He was a member of the Pakistan People’s Party.

On December 1, 2009, an ANP politician Shamsher Ali Khan was killed at Swat.

On January 3, 2010, a former provincial NWFP Education Minister Ghani-ur Rehman was killed in a roadside bomb attack.

On January 20, 2010, another ANP leader Aurangzeb Khan was seriously injured in a Peshawar bomb blast.

In July 2010, former Senator Habib Jalib (a nationalist leader for the Balochistan National Party) was assassinated at Quetta.

On July 24, 2010, Mian Rashid, the son of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa’s Information Minister, Mian Iftikhar, was shot dead at Pabbi near Nowshera.

On August 1, 2010, an MQM MPA Raza Haider was shot dead in Karachi’s Nazimabad area, after six unidentified gunmen had opened fire on him.

On September 10, 2010, Balochistan’s provincial finance minister Asim Ali Kurd, survived a suicide car bomb attack at his Quetta residence.

On January 4, 2011, Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was killed by his own bodyguard in Islamabad.

On March 2, 2011, the-then Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti was gunned down in Islamabad.

In December 2012, in an incident that shocked the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senior Minister, Bashir Ahmad Bilour, was assassinated in a suicide attack in Peshawar.

On April 11, 2013, Fakhrul Islam, a Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in southern Sindh.

On April 16, 2013, At least 4 people were killed, including the son and brother of Sanaullah Zehri, the provincial chief of the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) in restive Balochistan's Khuzdar district.

On August 16, 2015, Punjab home minister, Shuja Khanzada, was killed in a suicide blast.

On July 13, 2018, a Balochistan politician, Nawab Siraj Raisani, was assassinated in a suicide attack in Mastung while campaigning for his seat prior to the 2018 ballot exercise. Siraj Raisani was one of the 131 people who were killed in the attack. He was younger brother of former provincial chief minister, Mir Aslam Raisani. It was also in July 2018, just 14 days before the polls, that a senior Awami National Party leader, Barrister Haroon Bilour, and 13 other persons had lost their lives while at least 45 others were wounded when a suicide bomber targeted an election rally of the party in Peshawar.

On July 24, 2018, Ikramullah Gandapur , a former provincial minister and senior leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, was killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up near his car in Dera Ismail Khan district.