A few weeks before national elections in Pakistan, a father killed his son because he did not support the same political party, local police announced Tuesday. The son, recently returned from Qatar where he worked, wanted to display the flag of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, on the facade of the family home in Khyber province Pakhtunkhwa.
A fatal pistol shot
“The father forbade him to display the PTI flag in front of the house, but the son refused to remove it and abandon the PTI,” said a local police official, Naseer Farid. The argument escalated and, in a fit of rage, the father shot his 31-year-old son with a gun, before fleeing the house. » The son died on the way to the hospital.
Police are searching for the father, who is a supporter of the Awami National Party, a Pashtun nationalist party. The February 8 elections are expected to take place without Imran Khan, who was ousted from power by a motion of no confidence in April 2022. Although he remains the country’s most popular politician, he has been incarcerated since August, must do facing a slew of charges and was found ineligible for five years. Election campaigns in Pakistan are generally marked by episodes of violence. Many candidates and voters have in the past been targeted by armed attacks and bombings by Islamist insurgents.