The former prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan was about to be killed last week. According to available sources, he was leading a long march against the government and an attacker fired several rounds of bullets at him. But because of the intervention of a young man, bullets missed the targets and the former prime minister was saved. No doubt, such attempts are not new in Pakistan. Other Pakistani leaders including Benazir Bhutto were assassinated. Moreover, assassinations and attempts to assassinate political leaders are not new in the world. Many political leaders from the lower tier of leadership to the higher tier including kings, presidents and prime ministers were assassinated in the world in the past.
It is pertinent to note that not only ruling political leaders but also opposition political leaders are killed. Moreover, a range of actors are responsible for political assassination and plotters and assassinators are powerful. Actors are local, national and international. Some assassinations are made solely by plotters at the national level, while some other assassinations are made internationally. Sometimes, local and international actors act together to assassinate political leaders. The assassinations of local political leaders are mostly plotted locally, while many assassinations of top level political leaders especially ruling party leaders are made nationally and internationally. Many heavyweight political assassinations in the world are carried out jointly by local and international actors.
No doubt, the assassination of political leaders does not bring good outcomes on most occasions, though it can lead to some positive outcomes on very rare occasions. The killing of dynamic and visionary leadership can make a country and the affiliated political party leaderless, hamper political development and lead to disastrous economic and other impacts on the country. This is the case for newly independent countries which need to do a lot for their development in a planned manner with strong, visionary and dynamic leadership roles. Sometimes, the assassination of political leaders can also have significant regional and global impacts. For instance, the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin in 1995 was a major reason for the collapse of the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.
The assassination of political leaders is driven by a range of power-struggle based, economic interest-driven, geopolitical and other causes. The struggle to come to power, the maintenance of power and threat perception are the most important causes of political assassination. Notably, the power struggle is a common aspect in the world and started with the emergence of the leadership of tribes, villages and other types of communities. In modern times, political parties and leaders do politics for political power. But a lack of a well-developed political system increases the chance of political assassination in the power struggle. The ill-developed political system not only leads to restrictions on political competition, strong polarization, political fragmentation and repression of opposition by the leaders in power but also ill-efforts to come to power by any means by those who are not in power.
No doubt, many high-ranked but well-serving political leaders were killed due to the interest in coming to power by others. Moreover, many dictators were killed because of their over exercise and misuse of power or repression of others. Additionally, significantly wrong decisions, even if not directly repressive, that affect many can make many angry and lead to the assassination of political leaders. Besides, some other causes including a lack of justice against the assassinators, the power and links of assassinators or the plotters of assassination within and outside of a country and geopolitical enmity are responsible for political assassination. No doubt, territorial fragmentation and heterogeneous population with extensively contradictory ideologies increase the risk of political assassination.
Because of the above causes, it is impossible to end the assassination of political leaders including high-ranked political leaders completely though it is possible to reduce the chance of political assassination remarkably. Notably, strong security measures can help to prevent many plots of assassination but cannot prevent all of them. Many times, security officials are also engaged in high-ranked political assassinations. Consequently, some other efforts including securing justice against assassinators may help to reduce the chance of political assassination in many countries. Of course, putting emphasis on the well-developed and transparent political system is imperative. The tolerant attitude and responsible activities of political leaders including those in power are also important to minimize the chance of assassination.
