Rawalpindi: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders holding government positions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will have to step down from party positions to facilitate the party's reorganization in the province.
The decision was announced by PTI’s Secretary General Salman Akram Raja on Tuesday after his meeting with Imran Khan in Adiala Jail.
Speaking to journalists outside the jail, Salman Akram Raja stated that the move aims to empower PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s newly appointed president, Junaid Akbar, for the party’s restructuring efforts.
Last month, Junaid Akbar replaced Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur as PTI’s provincial president while Imran Khan urged Ali Amin Gandapur to keep his focus on corruption issues in the province.
When asked about the party’s internal affairs, Salman Akram Raja said that Imran Khan had made it clear that he stands firmly with the party’s leadership and that those expelled from PTI no longer have any association with the party.
This statement was seen as a clear reference to Sher Afzal Marwat and Fawad Chaudhry, who were recently expelled from PTI.
Raja further added that party members who failed to stay in contact with the leadership during the voting on the 26th constitutional amendment would be held accountable personally.
He also briefed Imran Khan on the recent visit of PTI leaders to Sindh, claiming that Khan pledged to continue fighting for the rights of the people of Sindh.
Salman Akram Raja alleged that Imran Khan was being deprived of his rights in jail and revealed plans to write a letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan on Khan’s behalf.
Despite PTI’s claims that Imran Khan’s jail cell lacks electricity, Raja mentioned that the former prime minister and ex-cricket captain was deeply saddened by Pakistan’s defeat against India in the Champions Trophy.
Imran Khan’s sister, Aleema Khan, stated that her brother watched the match on PTV and was extremely disappointed with the result.
On a separate note, PTI’s Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram criticized the government for taking loans to cover expenses, accusing it of wasting public resources.
He alleged that Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif was being "groomed and prepared" for leadership and that such efforts would lead the country toward political, economic, and social instability.
Akram warned that Pakistan had already paid a heavy price for such political experiments in the past and insisted that the public would not allow any such imposition to succeed again.
He concluded by praising Imran Khan for awakening the nation’s political consciousness and stated that the people of Pakistan could no longer be silenced through intimidation or coercive tactics.
