Imran directs PTI members in govt roles to step down from party posts

ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan, founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has issued a directive ordering party members holding government positions to relinquish their roles within the party.

“The move aims to assist [Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter president] Junaid Akbar in getting a free hand to reorganise the party,” PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja said while speaking to journalists after meeting the former prime minister in Adiala jail on Tuesday.

Talking to the media, he said that the founder had noted that the prison system is managed by unseen forces. “I will write to the Chief Justice on prison matters. The PTI secretary general said that their last meeting with the chief justice took place with the permission of the PTI founder.”

Salman Akram said that he briefed Imran Khan on their visit to Sindh. “Imran said that the PTI will fight for the rights of people of Sindh.” Quoting Imran, he said, “We are doing politics for the people, every day a new incident of fascism is coming to light in Punjab and the people are looking towards us.” He said Imran Khan was very disturbed at the performance of cricket team during the ICC Champions Trophy and contended that cricket had been destroyed due to its management falling into the hands of inexperienced people. “The people of Pakistan have an attachment to cricket but in the last few years cricket has been turned into a joke.”

The secretary general of the party said that those who voted in favour of the 26th Amendment have no place in the party and cases of those who were absent or not in touch with the PTI during the passage of the 26th Amendment, will be decided individually. “They would be given a chance to explain their position,” he said.

Salman Akram also said that Sher Afzal has been expelled from the party and this decision will not change. He also said that the party founder is happy with the outcome of the elections of High Court Bar and noted the party was united. The chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he pointed out, is performing his duties as per the instructions of the founder of PTI. In another press conference outside the Adiala jail, Aleema Khan, the sister of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founding chairman, said that her brother had watched Pakistan’s match and was extremely sad with their performance. Imran held those in charge of the PCB as the cause behind cricket team’s debacle and asked what experience Mohsin Naqvi had about cricket.

Explaining the party policy, Aleema quoted Imran as saying that only the party office-bearers should talk about him. She also rejected the news about Imran’s health and said the rumour was floated about his sickness to divert people’s attention. “The PTI founder is fine and healthy.”

In another media engagement, PTI Information Secretary Shaikh Waqas Akram slammed the chief minister Punjab for squandering taxpayers’ money on her self-projection and fireworks during the closing ceremony of the Horse & Cattle Show. He also slammed the Punjab chief minister for violating the Constitution, law and human rights with impunity.

Waqas also criticized the ‘fraudulently imposed’ rulers and claimed that while they were taking costly loans to manage the affairs of the government, they were shamefully wasting public resources with blatant disregard for the national interests.

He alleged that after Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif, Maryam Safdar was now being groomed to be imposed on the nation, further driving the country towards political, economic and social instability. Shaikh Waqas said the unlawfully incarcerated PTI founder had awakened the nation, and the conscious people could not be silenced through intimidation, coercion or oppressive tactics.