Hours after the parliament passed the contentious 26 Constitutional Amendments, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Zain Qureshi Monday released a video, defying rumours around his disappearance that triggered reports about his disloyalty towards the party.
The politician was rumoured to make an appearance in the National Assembly during the passage of the government-led legislation that PTI has consistently and strongly opposed.
Zain, however, defied the reports and ruled out any government pressure on himself. In the video statement, he mentioned lying low on the orders of his father — party's incarcerated leader, Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
"I could never think of voting for this constitutional amendment," said Zain, terming the rumours "baseless propaganda".
Zain further maintained that his father summoned him to Lahore, where he remains imprisoned in a different case. Qureshi, as quoted by his son, insisted against the approval of the constitutional amendment in any case.
"Misleading propaganda is being spread against me regarding my support for the constitutional amendment," he said.
He mentioned quitting politics if his meeting with a government official is proven. "[I] stand by party policy and PTI founder," said the politician.
Commenting on her brother’s disappearance taking to X on Sunday, Zain’s sister, Meher Bano Qureshi, wrote that the family did not have any contact with the politico since the morning of October 16.
“We have been praying he is safe and underground. I now fear that he has been abducted. As a family, we have suffered threats, humiliation, abuse and many other such pressures for over a year, attempting to break our principles and ideology,” she wrote.
The politician added: “For 15 months they have not been able to break my father, our Naib Kaptaan. We will stand for our leader, Imran Khan. For my father’s sacrifices.”
When questioned by a user on X about highlighting the matter on the day of the legislation and not choosing to do it earlier, Meher Bano said that her family had “no cause for concern because Zain had been told to go underground that day, explicit instructions from baba”.
Therefore, the family thought he had followed the imprisoned PTI leader’s instructions.
“We got concerned when rumours started circulating yesterday. The concern grew because he did not / has not reached out to anyone,” she wrote in the post.
Meanwhile, PTI leader Asad Qaiser acknowledged that Zain did not vote in favour of the contentious legislation and admitted that the party’s imprisoned former vice chairman Qureshi is sacrificing for the PTI.
The party’s lawmaker Sher Afzal Marwat, on the other hand, said all evidence regarding Zain Qureshi is going against him.
“All [issues] aside, Zain's matter is troubling us all,” he said, hinting at the politician’s possible support for the amendments.
Marwat recalled that when Zain’s wife was “picked up”, Meher Bano posted on X within five minutes. However, he questioned why there was no mention of the brother’s disappearance by her.
According to the lawyer-cum-politician, he was also offered money to vote in support of the legal reforms.
“They said Rs1 billion has been offered to everyone,” claimed Marwat.
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