Shortly after being sacked from PTI, former prime minister Imran Khan’s aide Pervez Khattak has formed a new party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Parliamentarians.
Pervez Khattak has held several meetings with key politicians from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including former PTI lawmakers. Almost all who had been in contact with Mr Khattak had shown their willingness to join the new party, but they wanted some guarantee of a certain win in the polls.
Former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Mahmood Khan and ex-lawmakers Shaukat Ali and Syed Muhammad Ishtiaq Urmar are among 57 ex-assembly members who have joined the party.
Mehmood Khan joins Khattak. pic.twitter.com/1LjIh8RFyx
— Ihtisham Ul Haq (@iihtishamm) July 17, 2023
On May 9, the PTI chairman was arrested from the premises of the Islamabad High Court. His arrest triggered almost countrywide rioting, during which important military installations — including the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi and Lahore Corp Commander’s residence — were attacked and vandalised.
Since then, there has been a mass exodus of PTI leaders jumping ship and many that claimed to leave the party had stated in their press conferences that they had bid adieu to politics.
Read more: Government not interested to hold talks with PDM, clarifies Pervez Khattak
Pervez Khattak also held a press conference, announcing his resignation as president of the PTI’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter. Media reports also emerged that Pervez Khattak is likely to be made secretary general of Jahangir Tareen’s newly former Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party. However, he rejected the reports of joining Jahangir Khan Tareen.
Pervaiz Khattack officially launches his own party. It really doesn’t matter how may MPAs or MNAs go with him. Real issue is, will voter go with those MNAs or MPAs given dynamics of KPK?
— Meher Bokhari (@meherbokhari) July 17, 2023
However, earlier this week, PTI sacked him over his failure to respond to a “show cause notice” about allegedly trying to break away PTI members in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
On Sunday, the former PTI leader had told media that he had parted ways with the PTI, saying he would not return to the Imran Khan-led party even if he fails to form his own party.
Pervez Khattak had won Nowshera’s NA-25 constituency in the 2018 general elections. He served as the federal defence minister from 2018 to 2022 when PTI was in power.
Read more: Pervez Khattak brushes aside rumours about joining Jahangir Tareen