ISLAMABAD: Hours after former US President Donald Trump was shot in the ear during a campaign rally on Saturday, global condemnation poured in, including from President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The Republican presidential candidate was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when he was shot in the ear, blood running down his face and prompting his security agents to swarm him before he emerged and pumped his fist in the air as if to mouth a proclamation . the words “Fight! Combat! Fight!” The suspected gunman and one rally attendee were killed and two other spectators were wounded, the Secret Service said in a statement.
The incident was being investigated as an assassination attempt, a source told Reuters.
President Zardari said he was “deeply shocked” to learn of the incident and stressed that “there is no place for violence in politics,” according to a statement from the presidential palace.
He wished Trump a speedy recovery and regretted the loss of life.
Prime Minister Shehbaz echoed Zardari’s sentiments in a statement posted on social media platform X.
“I just learned that former President Trump was shot at a campaign rally. This is a shocking development. I condemn all violence in politics. Wish the former president a speedy recovery and good health,” he wrote. Jailed former prime minister and PTI founder Imran Khan “strongly” condemned the attack, saying: “Political violence is a tool of cowards and has no place in a democracy.”
The shooting comes less than four months before the Nov. 5 election, when Trump faces a rematch with Biden. Most opinion polls, including Reuters/Ipsos polls, show the two in a close race.
Trump, 78, posted on social media that he had been shot in the upper right ear and that there was “a lot of bleeding.” His campaign said he was “doing well.” He was released from the hospital late Saturday.
Acting US President Joe Biden has since spoken to Trump following the incident, according to a White House official.
Biden said in a statement: “There is no place in America for this kind of violence. We must unite as one nation to condemn this.”
