KARACHI: Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan died in Rawalpindi yesterday ... [Oct 16] afternoon, shortly after being shot at twice from close range by an unidentified assailant while addressing a public meeting at company gardens. The Prime Minister had risen to address the mammoth gathering and had hardly begun with “Bradaran-i-Islam” when at approximately 4-20 p.m. the assassin shot him twice with a revolver. He is believed to have been struck in the chest in the region of the heart and fell bleeding. According to a local photographer who was one of the few persons nearby, he had the “Kalima” on his lips.

According to the APP Rawalpindi correspondent who was an eyewitness ... the assailant had hardly fired on the Prime Minister when he was “at once swooped on and torn to pieces by the furious mob”. The Prime Minister was unconscious when he was rushed by car to the Combined Military Hospital where he was given a blood transfusion and attempts were made to remove the bullets. But he succumbed to his injuries. Three RPAF planes flew out from Karachi last evening to Rawalpindi to bring the Prime Minister’s body to the Federal Capital for burial.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2026