Suspect shooter of Pakistan’s Ahsan Iqbal linked to far-right

A suspect arrested for an assassination attempt on Pakistan’s interior minister says he is a member of a far-right religious organisation that has previously accused members of the government of committing blasphemy, police say.

Abid Hussain, said to be in his early 20s, was arrested from the scene of the attack in the central Pakistani district of Narowal, on Sunday, shortly after he fired a bullet that struck Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal in the right arm, police told Al Jazeera.

Iqbal, 59, is “out of danger” and recovering in a hospital in the eastern city of Lahore on Monday.

The attack has, however, raised fears of violence in advance of a scheduled general election in July, with Iqbal’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) battling the opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to remain in power.

Source Al Jazeera