Shinzo Abe assassinated on the street in Japan
The 67-year-old was the longest serving PM of Japan and credited with Abenomics; India announces one-day national mourning on 9 July 2022
PM Modi shared this picture of Abe, calling him his dear friend
In a shocking event for a country like Japan, its former and most popular Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated in broad daylight while he was making a campaign speech on the street in Nara, near Kyoto in western Japan. Abe, born on 21 September 1954, was 67, and passed away at 5:03pm JST.
The news was confirmed by Japan’s NHK.
Abe was campaigning for the Liberal Democratic Party ahead of the upcoming Upper House election. He was the country’s PM twice – 2006-07 and then again from 2012-20. In August 2020, he surprised everyone by stepping down due to health conditions, which many assumed was related to Covid. He was replaced by Yoshihide Suga, who supported Abe’s policies – the current PM Fumio Kishida replaced Suga in October 2021.
Abe became a global name during his second term by pulling back Japan into growth and his policies came to be known as Abenomics. Hailing from a family of renowned people (his grandfather was former PM Nobusuke Kishi, and his father was former Foreign Minister Shintaro Abe), he was particularly close to former US President Donald Trump, Indian PM Narendra Modi. According to government sources, several issues between India and Japan used to be resolved in phone calls when Abe was the PM.
Abe was instrumental in developing the “QUAD” framework — a new group including the US, Australia and India — which mainly aimed at containing China – both militarily and economically.
According to NHK, Abe was shot at from behind at 11:30am JST by 41-year-old Yamagami Tetsuya from Nara. Citing Defence Ministry, NHK reported that Tetsuya was in the Maritime Self-Defence Force for three years until 2005 and had a grudge against Abe. It is likely the Tetsuya had knowledge of Abe’s movements through social media where his next day’s events were posted regularly.
Such gun shootings are unheard of in a country like Japan, and there is likely to be a larger sinister global plot behind the incident.
An emotional PM Kishida said, “It was a despicable, barbaric act that happened during election campaigning, the foundation of democracy…it is an unforgivable act.” Japan is on high alert following the shooting, he told reporters.
Nations across the world condemn the act.
PM Modi said, “Mr. Abe made an immense contribution to elevating India-Japan relations to the level of a Special Strategic and Global Partnership. Today, whole India mourns with Japan and we stand in solidarity with our Japanese brothers and sisters in this difficult moment.
As a mark of our deepest respect for former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, a one-day national mourning shall be observed on 9 July 2022.”
U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, said, “We are all saddened and shocked by the shooting of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. Abe-san has been an outstanding leader of Japan and unwavering ally of the United States.”
Trump called it devastating. “He was a true friend of mine and, much more importantly, America. This is a tremendous blow to the wonderful people of Japan…,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, said, “The hand of a criminal cut short the life of an outstanding statesman who headed the Japanese government for a long time and did a lot to develop good neighborly relations between our countries…”
China is shocked by the incident and is following the developments, said China’s FM spokesperson Zhao Lijian.
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