Incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday declared himself the “patron-in-chief” of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), seemingly in preparation for the party’s planned nationwide protest movement after Eidul Azha.
Announcing the development after meeting Khan at Adiala Jail, PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan reiterated that the PTI leader would personally lead the protest campaign from jail. He said Khan had said that he would convey all instructions regarding the protest through opposition leader Omar Ayub Khan, adding PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja would determine who would meet him.
Rejecting rumors that he was being removed as PTI chairman, Gohar said Khan had also decided that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur would not lead the upcoming protest. He said Khan would assign responsibilities as necessary ahead of the protest.
Maintaining that the PTI had not closed its doors to negotiations with the security establishment, Gohar said he had always supported dialogue as a means to resolving the PTI’s issues with the establishment.
Khan’s decision recalls a similar decision of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) President Nawaz Sharif, who had similarly taken on the position of his party’s patron-in-chief after being unable to continue as party head following a conviction in the Panama Papers case.