Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan on Tuesday admitted to rifts within his party, but stressed that this did not mean a “forward bloc” was in the offing.
Speaking with reporters during the trial of £190 million corruption reference at Adiala Jail, where he remains incarcerated, Khan said he would meet with representatives of both factions within the PTI on Thursday and resolve the situation. In recent days, several PTI leaders have turned on each other, with one group accusing the other of kowtowing to the establishment and not working to secure Khan’s release.
The tensions have been worsened by the resignation of Omar Ayub Khan as the party’s secretary-general, ostensibly to focus on his role as leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, and a media blitz by former PTI leader Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, who is angling for a return to the party fold after deserting it last year.
Despite Khan’s acceptance of Ayub’s resignation, the PTI’s parliamentary party rejected it, and urged the founder to reconsider his stance owing to Ayub’s “sacrifices” for the party. A meeting of the PTI’s core committee also urged Ayub to withdraw his decision to step down as secretary general. Acknowledging Ayub’s contributions, Khan said he had “sacrificed immensely” for the party.
To a question on whether Fawad’s claims of Khan seeking a meeting with him were accurate, the PTI founder refused to comment. He similarly stayed silent on Fawad accusing the incumbent PTI leadership of lacking any political strategy. More generally, however, Khan said a final decision on the potential re-entry of defectors from the party would rely on whether they were “tortured” or voluntarily stepped aside for other reasons.
Responding to queries on whether a recent resolution passed by the U.S. House of Representatives seeking a probe into alleged irregularities in the Feb. 8 general elections constituted “interference,” Khan replied in the negative. “The resolution is related to the elections, while the cipher was related to the end of my government,” he said. “I still stand by Donald Lu’s intervention,” he added, referring to his allegations of the U.S. instigating his ouster through a vote of no-confidence.
The PTI founder also slammed the government for the recently passed budget for fiscal year 2024-25, claiming it would trigger further inflation. He reiterated that only way to steer the country out of prevailing crises was free and fair elections.