Press24 News
- Zubair Azam
- PRESS24 NEWS Urdu, Islamabad
image source, Getty Images
In the last few days, many big leaders have said goodbye to Imran Khan’s party Tehreek-e-Insaf. All the leaders have left the party citing the events of 9th May.
May 9, 2023 was mentioned in the press conference of (former) leaders associated with PTI. In such a situation, the question is arising whether Imran Khan has become alone in PTI and if not, then who is standing with him now.
After Imran Khan’s arrest on May 9, his supporters torched several military offices, including the Corps Commander House Lahore and the army headquarters.
After this incident, most of the PTI leaders and workers were arrested. Many of them were re-arrested soon after their release, despite court orders.
Shireen Mazari, Malika Bukhari, Musarrat Jamshed Cheema announced to leave the party soon after their release from jail.
Apart from them, important names like Fawad Chaudhary, Malik Amin Aslam, Aamir Kayani, Faizullah Kamuka, Chaudhary Hussain Elahi, Chaudhary Wajahat Hussain have announced to leave the party or separate from politics.
Tehreek-e-Insaf’s general secretary Asad Umar has also announced his resignation from the post of the party, but he has not announced to leave the party at the moment.
Facing mounting pressure, Imran Khan on Wednesday admitted that at present the number of people contacting him is negligible. He also called for a conditional return from the leaders leaving the party.
However, nothing is clear on the matter of return. But before this Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Jalil Sharqpuri had suggested that Imran Khan should hand over the party to Chaudhary Parvez Elahi, Asad Umar or Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
However, according to analysts, the possibility of someone else handing over the reins of the party to Imran Khan is unlikely unless legal difficulties or lawsuits close the doors of politics for him.
In such a situation, this question is important, which leaders can lead the PTI without Imran Khan and can this situation be acceptable for the party workers?
Before looking for answers to these questions, it is necessary to understand the part of Imran Khan’s address to the nation in which he indicated to retreat.
image source, Reuters
what did imran khan say
Imran Khan said in his address to the nation that those who are taking decisions to keep Imran Khan away, don’t they see that Pakistan is sinking? Can’t they see that they have no roadmap.
He said that “I am ready to form a committee today, it will be a negotiating committee and will talk to those who are running the power.”
Imran Khan said that ‘I constitute this committee. I say two things- If this committee sits and says that Pakistan will be better without Imran Khan and I do not have any roadmap, then I say again that I will leave it myself.
He said, “Or should they tell this committee that what will be the benefit to Pakistan by holding elections in October? We understand that they think that by October they will crush Tehreek-e-Insaf, but what will be the benefit to Pakistan? Why wait till October?”
In the same address, Imran Khan also claimed that it does not matter whether someone is leaving the party and the person he gives ticket to will win the election.
image source, FACEBOOK/IMRAN KHAN
On Friday, Imran Khan also announced that he has no intention of leaving the country.
Imran Khan’s claims are in their place but Shah Mahmood Qureshi, one of the most important figures of the party after Imran Khan, is still in custody and recently he said that he is not leaving the party.
A similar statement has also come out from the side of Chaudhary Parvez Elahi, although Chaudhary Parvez Elahi has not been arrested yet and in this statement he also expressed the hope of maintaining better relations with the army.
Another PTI leader and former Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak is also absent from public view in the current situation.
image source, Reuters
Will PTI be able to run without Imran?
Journalist Sohail Waraich while talking to PRESS24 NEWS said that “There is only one person in PTI who can replace Imran Khan and that is Shah Mehmood Qureshi”.
However, he said that the ‘minus one formula’ will not be successful without Imran Khan in PTI as this formula has never been successful before.
In response to another question, Sohail Waraich said that “Chaudhary Parvez Elahi is the leader of the ruling party but his arrival in the party is not very old and he has no relation with the party workers.”
Sohail Waraich says that “Imran Khan is right in saying that the departure of someone from the party will not affect his popularity and vote bank, but the departure of people elected by the public will make a difference.”
“People’s representatives have their own vote bank and the party has its own vote.”
Sohail Waraich said that PTI will suffer more due to the departure of people elected for Punjab than for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency/news feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings