Group also plans to meet Imran Khan to formally seek his approval before launching campaign
Fawad Chaudhry. PHOTO: FILE
LAHORE:
Senior PTI leaders who were part of the party’s original leadership are preparing to revive the political movement under the guidance of incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan, sources said on Friday.
According to insiders, prominent figures including Fawad Chaudhry, Asad Umar, Imran Ismail, Ali Zaidi, Mahmood Moulvi and Sibtain Khan are expected to lead the initiative once released.
The group also plans to meet Imran Khan to formally seek his approval before launching the campaign.
Sources said the veteran leaders intend to bring on board other experienced political figures from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh. “The movement will pick up real pace after Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s release, when the old guard will be seen back in active political action,” a source said.
Members of the former PTI leadership reportedly believe that the current leadership “cannot sideline” the founder of the party, asserting that they will continue to operate in alignment with Imran’s directives.
A day earlier, media reported another tiff in the party — this time over the leadership of PTI in central Punjab — has erupted over the social media platform X, in full public view, mere weeks after incarcerated founder Imran Khan warned party leaders against airing their dirty laundry in public,.
In a telling series of tweets on Thursday, Secretary General Salman Akram Raja railed against those who were “conspiring against him”, and recalled that Mr Khan had personally tasked him with conveying messages from Adiala jail.
Although he didn’t explain the issue at hand, a cursory glance at his earlier tweets and messages posted by other PTI leaders laid bare the dispute.
The controversy centres around the ouster of PTI Central Punjab President Ahmad Chattha and General Secretary Bilal Ejaz, who were removed on instructions supposedly conveyed by Imran Khan on Oct 16, when he met Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Salman Akram Raja in Adiala jail.
Mr Chattha was one of the men shot and injured in Wazirabad when Imran Khan’s container was fired upon during a rally in 2022.
A notification, issued on the same day by PTI’s Punjab Chief Organiser Aliya Hamza, had announced Chattha’s removal. He was to be replaced by Ali Imtiaz Warraich.
Following the Oct 16 meeting, however, Raja had tweeted that the party founder had not ordered any change in the Punjab hierarchy in his presence, adding that they would seek confirmation of this decision from Khan at their next meeting.
