'Koi sharam, koi haya': PML-N on Zardari's 'disciple' becoming PTI chairman

Firing a broadside at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Khawaja Asif Sunday said that Imran Khan's party must be ashamed for choosing Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Asif Ali Zardari's "disciple" as the new party chairman.

The PML-N leader's remarks came after PTI — following ECP's 20-day deadline to hold intra-party elections or lose its "bat" symbol — elected Barrister Gohar Khan as the new party head on Saturday.

Gohar's name for the top post was first revealed by the party's Senor-Vice President Sher Afzal Marwat earlier this week who said that the former premier himself has chosen the lawyer to contest intra-party elections for the post of party chairman.

His name came up after Khan decided to abstain from contesting for the top post owing to legal challenges including his five-year disqualification in the Toshakhana case.

Taking a dig at Gohar — a former member of the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarian (PPPP) who contested the 2008 elections on the Zardari-led party's ticket — Asif took to social media to lambast Khan for choosing a person to lead his party "whose leader was Asif Ali Zardari for 14 years".

"Imran Khan liked a 'diamond carved by Zardari sahib' so much that he handed over his chair to him," he wrote on the microblogging platform X.

"It is a moment of shame for PTI leaders and workers."

The PML-N stalwart stressed that the former premier is not willing to trust his colleagues who have been with him for years.

"It is difficult for a person who has deceived people all his life to trust others," he added.

Who is PTI's new chairman?

According to the PTI leader’s website, he is an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and appears in all high courts as well.

He is a law graduate from Wolverhampton University, UK with LLM from Washington School of Law, USA. Gohar has been in active law practice with more than 50 reported judgments to his credit on subjects ranging from taxation, commercial, corporate, arbitration, banking, election, etc.

The PTI leader has civil and criminal trial experience, and even has the honour to appear before the Supreme Judicial Council, Field General Court Martial, and its Court of Appeal.

His clients include public and private companies and important persons, including Imran.