Narrator Desk

Srinagar: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal was shot at and injured during a meeting on Sunday, in what Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif described as an “assassination attempt”.

The interior minister’s condition is said to be out of danger.

District Police Officer (DPO) Imran Kishwar told DawnNewsTV that Iqbal was shot by the assailant ─ who was also present at the corner meeting in Narowal area of Punjab ─ with a 30-bore pistol from a distance of 20 yards.

He sustained a bullet wound in his right shoulder, the DPO added.

The interior minister was initially shifted to District Headquarters Hospital Narowal following the attack, but will be airlifted in a helicopter to Lahore where he will receive further medical treatment, family sources confirmed.

The suspected shooter was taken into custody. He was identified as a local 20 to 22-year-old youth residing in the jurisdiction of the Shah Gharib police station in Kanjrur tehsil.

The Punjab government, confirming the arrest, said the suspect “is being interrogated by the police”.