‘Imran handed over his party to Zardari’s protégé’

ISLAMABAD: Taking a jibe at Barrister Gohar’s election as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) senior leader Khawaja Asif Sunday censured Imran Khan for handpicking Asif Ali Zardari’s “protégé” as the party’s new chairman.

The former defence minister was referring to Gohar replacing Imran Khan as the party chief following the intra-party election on Saturday, which were held after the ECP issued a 20-day deadline warning the party to hold the polls or lose its “bat” symbol.

Barrister Gohar’s nomination as the party chair became a controversial subject within the PTI when his name was revealed by the party’s Senor-Vice President Sher Afzal Marwat earlier this week.

Taking a dig at Gohar — a former member of the Pakistan Peoples 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.

The PML-N stalwart stressed that the former premier was 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.