A security guard was killed and several others were injured after unidentified assailants opened fire on the convoy of former Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) prime minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas on Friday, in an attack that comes days before the region’s Legislative Assembly elections.
Azad Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Raja Akmal confirmed that authorities had received reports of firing on Ilyas’ convoy. He said an investigation was underway and those responsible would be brought to justice.
According to a statement shared by Ilyas’ spokesperson on Facebook, the attack occurred in the Tain-Dhalkot area while the former prime minister was travelling from Islamabad to Rawalakot for a two-day visit.
The spokesperson said Ilyas’ security guard, Muhammad Asif, was killed in the attack, while several other people in the convoy sustained injuries. No further details were immediately available regarding the condition of the injured or whether Ilyas himself was harmed.
The incident comes less than two weeks before elections to the 53-member AJK Legislative Assembly, scheduled for July 27, raising fresh concerns over the security situation in the region during the election campaign.
Earlier this month, Ilyas announced that he had joined the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) after meeting party president Abdul Aleem Khan and State Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Awn Chaudhry. His move followed his resignation from the Pakistan Peoples Party’s AJK chapter after negotiations over election tickets failed, a development widely seen as a setback for the party ahead of the polls.
The attack also comes against the backdrop of heightened tensions in Azad Jammu and Kashmir linked to protests organised by the banned Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC).
Police have not yet identified the attackers or disclosed a possible motive behind Friday’s shooting.
