Imran Khan Travelling in Bullet-Proof Car After Vehicle Shot At

Lahore: Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, leading protesters to the Pakistani capital of Islamabad for a sit-in demanding the ouster of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, today boarded a bullet-proof car after shots were fired at his convoy.

Intelligence reports said Mr Khan and his caravan could come under attack again in Ghakkar Mandi, about 230 kilometers from Lahore, en route to Islamabad.

Mr Khan and other important leaders of his Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party were advised by police to board the bullet-proof car in the wake of the clashes and bullets being reportedly fired at his vehicle.

Taking the threat into consideration, Mr Khan boarded his white bullet-proof car along with his sister and some other members of the party.

"My caravan was attacked three times by PML-N workers in Gujranwala city," Mr Khan told a news channel. (Imran Khan Safe, Gun Shots Fired at His Car in Anti-Government March)

He said his family members were present in the vehicle when it came under attack with bullets being fired on it.

"We are traveling along with our families and our workers and we will remain peaceful," he said.

Mr Khan said after his convoy reached Islamabad, Prime Minister Sharif would have to quit.

"We will not leave Islamabad till the resignation of Nawaz Sharif, dissolution of election commission and formation of interim government to hold fresh elections," he asserted.

He said by the time his convoy reached Islamabad, the number of participants in his 'Azadi March' would have risen to one million.

Eight PTI workers have reportedly been wounded in clashes with activists of the ruling PML-N with opposition supporters claiming that they were fired upon and pelted with stones in Gujranwala city, nearly 80 kilometers from Lahore, the eastern city where Mr Khan's rally began.

Two opposition groups, led by Mr Khan and Canada-based cleric Tahir ul-Qadri, plan to converge on Islamabad to press PM Sharif to call early elections a little over a year after his landslide victory in the general election.

Mr Qadri, the chief of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek, said 600,000 people are part of his march.

"We will reach Islamabad today evening and after reaching there we will send the Nawaz government home. Government and business cannot go together. The time to end the Sharif's government has come," Qadri said.