Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan said on Friday he was pausing his march on the capital, Islamabad, a day after a gunman opened fire on his campaign convoy, wounding him and killing one of his supporters.
Thirteen other people were hurt in the attack.
Mr Khan spoke to reporters late on Friday, his first public comment since the shooting, and said that he will resume his protest once he has recovered from the bullet wound.
The bullet hit him in the right leg, above the ankle.
His protest march and rallies, which started last Friday, were peaceful until Thursday’s attack in Wazirabad, a district in eastern Punjab province.
The shooting has raised concerns about growing political instability in Pakistan, which has a history of political violence and assassinations.
“As soon as I recover, I have decided that I will be back on the streets and will issue the call for a (march on) Islamabad,” Mr Khan said, adding that he knew he could be targeted in an attack.
Sitting in a wheelchair, his right leg bandaged and elevated, Mr Khan spoke from the Shaukat Khanum hospital, where he had surgery on Thursday.
TV cameras carried his remarks live.
He accused prime minister Shahbaz Sharif, interior minister Rana Sanaullah Khan and army general Faisal Naseer working for the Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency of orchestrating the shooting.
The minister and the former PM are not related.
He offered no evidence for his allegations, which were rejected by Mr Sharif’s government and dismissed as a “pack of lies” by information minister Maryam Aurangzeb.
The spy agency also dismissed Mr Khan’s allegations, saying there was absolutely no truth in them.
The government says it has ordered a high-level probe.
The gunman, who was arrested at the scene of the attack, was still being questioned on Friday, police said.
On Thursday, local police officials released a video showing the man who says in the footage that he carried out the shooting and acted alone.
Earlier, Fawad Chaudhry, a senior leader from Mr Khan’s party, said the party’s leadership had “no doubt” the attacker targeted Mr Khan.
“We are convinced that it was a well-planned assassination attempt on Pakistan’s most popular leader,” he said.
Mr Khan, a former cricket star turned politician, was travelling in a large protest convoy of trucks and cars toward Islamabad when the attack happened.
Video footage from Thursday shows him and his team ducking for cover on top of a vehicle as gunfire rings out.
It was not immediately clear if Mr Khan’s decision to pause his march on Islamabad would defuse tensions.
Security has been heightened in Islamabad ahead of the anticipated arrival of Mr Khan’s convoy in the Pakistani capital.
Mr Khan, 70, maintains that his April ousting after a no-confidence vote in parliament was unlawful and a conspiracy by his political opponents orchestrated by the United States, a charge denied by both Washington and Mr Sharif.
