Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Gohar Ali Khan on Thursday warned authorities against sustaining political pressure on his party, adding it should not be pushed to a point where it feels compelled to exit the political system entirely.
Referring to ongoing restrictions on PTI’s political activities during a campaign event in Skardu, he said sustaining such pressures could also provoke the party into reconsidering its participation in Parliament. According to Khan, authorities have prevented several PTI leaders from participating in the election campaign for Gilgit-Baltistan elections. Such actions, he said, raised questions about the benefits of remaining within the existing political framework.
The barriers facing the PTI leaders, alleged Khan, amounted to pre-poll rigging and were unconstitutional. They undermine democratic norms and weaken the credibility of the electoral process, he added. He alleged that the PTI’s opponents were relying on such actions to secure votes in the upcoming polls.
The PTI chairman’s words were echoed by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Shafi Jan, who told Geo News that discussions were ongoing regarding an exit from Parliament in light of the “shrinking” political space.
Questioning why PPP and PMLN leaders had a free hand during the GB campaign while PTI leaders faced restrictions, he said the party’s political committee would ultimately determine how to proceed.
The PTI has a history of resigning from Parliament while in opposition. The party’s lawmakers resigned from the National Assembly and the Punjab Assembly in 2014 to protest alleged rigging in the 2013 polls but returned to Parliament after a 126-day sit-in. In 2022, following Imran Khan’s ouster as prime minister, they once again resigned en masse. This was followed in 2023 with dissolutions of the Punjab and KP assemblies in a bid to force early elections.