Almost five months after an attempt on his life, former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan has returned to the campaign trail for the first time since the attack. Speaking to The Independent, Khan revealed that while the two bullet wounds to his thigh have healed, the third bullet that shattered his shin bone has left him with potentially long-lasting nerve damage. Despite this, he is back on the campaign trail, addressing supporters from behind a bulletproof screen.
Khan's PTI party should be in full election mode by now, with a key vote for control of Punjab due to take place on 30 April. However, the election commission suspended the vote until October, citing security concerns, as massive street protests continue to gather in support of Khan.
During his speech, Khan accused the government of corruption, intimidation, and an illegal conspiracy to oust him in last year's no-confidence motion. The Pakistan government has repeatedly denied these allegations and says they are being used to whip up support for an attempted return to power.
Khan's campaigning style has drawn comparisons to another celebrity-turned-politician, Donald Trump. Both share the ability to whip up a crowd with a catchy turn of phrase and bullish rhetoric, which critics say verges on the hostile. One of the dozens of legal cases brought against Khan since his ouster is for using threatening language against a female judge.
Despite facing open threats of violence, Khan remains determined to return to power. He founded PTI in 1996 after retiring from cricket and has been in politics for 27 years. He has been jailed before for opposing the military dictatorship of General Musharraf, but he says that what is happening now in Pakistan is even worse.
Khan has also faced persecution from the authorities, with police raiding his home in Lahore in March while he was due to appear in court in Islamabad. During the raid, officers beat up his household staff and detained his cook, asking him what Khan eats. Police claimed to have recovered weapons during the raid and have added new terrorism charges against Khan and hundreds of other PTI workers as a result.
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