• Minister claims shooter was affiliated with PTI, accuses it of pursuing ‘politics of violence’
• Party denies any link to incident, says attempts being made to link it to terrorism
RAWALPINDI: A man, who police claimed was affiliated with a “particular political party”, was shot dead by law enforcement officials on Rawalpindi’s Mall Road on Tuesday after he allegedly opened fire on security personnel, injuring an official.
A case was registered with the Crime Control Department (CCD) Rawalpindi, a specialised Punjab police investigation unit, against the accused under the Anti-Terrorism Act, and further investigation was under way, sources said.
A political party flag, a cap, a weapon and a mobile phone were recovered from the suspect after he was shot dead by law enforcement officials. The alleged assailant, identified as Muhammad Hussain, son of Muhammad Baaz, was a resident of Khyber Agency and an “active member of PTI”, the sources said. His body was shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital for postmortem by R.A. Bazaar police.
“The suspect, Muhammad Hussain, son of Muhammad Baaz, who belonged to a certain political party, opened fire on a patrol team of security forces with his pistol at about 11:15am,” said a statement issued by Rawalpindi police. The police added that one security personnel was injured in the attack, while the attacker was killed in retaliatory fire. “More evidence and connections have been revealed from his mobile phone and other belongings,” the police said, adding that further investigation was under way.
‘Politics of violence’
Meanwhile, in a statement aired on news channels following the incident, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar slammed what he described as PTI’s “politics of violence” after state media reported the incident. Visuals of a red-and-green cloth, a gun and bullets allegedly recovered from the attacker were also televised by PTV News during Mr Tarar’s video statement.
The information minister said there was “no reason for opening fire on security personnel” and later confirmed the incident’s location as Rawalpindi’s Mall Road. Mr Tarar also criticised what he called the “politics of violence adopted by the PTI” and accused its members of “coming equipped with weapons”.
The minister referred to PTI’s call for a long march to Islamabad, which has been announced for September 27. He claimed that “it was on record that they always come armed at all their protests, open fire on security personnel and martyr them”. “They do not believe in peaceful protest, and today, the entire nation has witnessed their nefarious aims and objectives,” Mr Tarar asserted, noting that the security personnel were targeted “in public in broad daylight”. “This is their ideology; they believe in violence and such incidents. The PTI has always done politics of violence, and not a single one of their protests has been peaceful,” he alleged.
Noting that a PTI flag and “other documents” were recovered from the alleged attacker, he claimed that the PTI’s aim was only to “spread anarchy in the country and ruin law and order”.
PTI denies attack link
Meanwhile, the PTI distanced itself from the reported attack in Rawalpindi, alleging that the incident was an attempt to derail the current momentum for the release of PTI founder Imran Khan. The party has said it has nothing to do with terrorism and alleged that efforts were being made to link it to the incident.
PTI Islamabad Regional President Amir Mughal strongly refuted Mr
Tarar’s claims.
Separately, KP CM’s Aide Shafi Jan also condemned the attack on security personnel. Speaking to Geo News, he said the attacker was a resident of Khyber district, adding that it was possible that he was a PTI supporter, but clarified that he did not hold any party position.
He said that hundreds of people supported the party, but it was unfair to link an individual act of violence to the whole party.
Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2026
