Pakistan’s former military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, narrowly escaped being struck in the head by a shoe hurled at him outside a courtroom in Karachi on Friday, video of the incident showed.
The footage, broadcast in a loop on Pakistani television, showed the shoe passing just in front of General Musharraf’s face as he made his way through the court building, surrounded by a scrum of security officers, journalists and protesters.
An analysis of the footage from Geo News, which slowed the video down and traced the path of the shoe in forensic detail, suggested that the attacker, standing behind photographers jostling for a shot of the former ruler, was forced to make an awkward throw, raising the projectile high overhead before flinging it down at the general.
Quoting witnesses, the Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported that the shoe had come from a group of about 20 lawyers who “had gathered to protest against the former military ruler at the Sindh High Court building, shouting, ‘He’s a dictator and he should be hanged.’â€
General Musharraf was in court to obtain an extension of pre-trial bail in several legal cases filed against him for his actions after he took power in a coup in 1999. He returned to the country from exile this week, hoping to make a political comeback in the nation’s upcoming elections.
A Euronews video report on the incident showed protesting lawyers inside the court building, and explained the charges against General Musharraf.
Protesters outside the court building also waved their shoes in the air during the general’s bail hearing. As Omar Waraich, a journalist who covers Pakistan for Time magazine noted on Twitter, being shown or struck with the sole of a shoe is a form of insult pioneered in the Muslim world.
However, the meme has spread rapidly across the globe in recent years, since an Iraqi journalist hurled two shoes at President George W. Bush in 2008. Last month in Cairo, an attacker hurled a shoe at Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, during the Iranian president’s visit.
The attack was condemned by several Pakistani journalists and commentators not know for their sympathy for the general.
The general made no mention of the near miss on his Twitter feed, where he thanked the court for extending his bail and mentioned “posing for pictures with excited fans.â€
Earlier in the week, General Musharraf took some flak on the social network for posting a photograph of himself working out in a gym after his return to Pakistan. Some saw the image as an effort to show that the 69-year-old was still vital, as he heads into an election in competition with, among others, Imran Khan, the trim former captain of Pakistan’s cricket team, who is a decade younger.
