In a veiled dig at leaders leaving his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said he was not addressing the people because he was also leaving the party.
“Let me make it clear, I’m not doing this media talk because I am leaving PTI,” Khan said as a majority of his party leaders have announced parting ways with him through press conferences.
The PTI chief’s remarks came during his broadcast talk with the people, where he lamented that his party members were being separated from him “through forced divorces” — a term he used earlier.
“First, when they come [for the press conferences], they condemn the May 9 events. Then, they announce leaving PTI.”
Responding to the government’s move of placing his name on the “no-fly list”, Khan said he has no plans of leaving the country and assured the rulers that he would stay in Pakistan.
“These things matter to those whose properties are abroad.”
Khan’s party has been feeling the heat of the state’s might after his enraged PTI workers attacked military installations, including the Lahore Corps Commanders House and the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, after his arrest on May 9 — a day the army dubbed as “Black Day”.
Several party leaders and thousands of workers have been rounded up in connection with the violent protests and the army has insisted that the people involved in attacks on military installations be tried under the Pakistan Army Act and the Official Secrets Act.
Several party leaders and lawmakers — including Shireen Mazari, Aamir Mehmood Kiani, Malik Amin Aslam, Mahmood Moulvi, Aftab Siddiqui, Fayyazul Hassan Chohan, Maleeka Bokhari, and Mussarrat and Jamshed Cheema among others — have publicly denounced the attacks on the state installations and announced leaving the former ruling party since the May 9 vandalism.
