Gohar Ali Khan elected new PTI chairman to permit the celebration to participate in nationwide election scheduled for February 8.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, at present in jail going through what he says are greater than 150 instances filed in opposition to him to maintain him from contesting elections subsequent yr, has been changed as head of the celebration he based, officers say.
One in every of Khan’s attorneys was elected on Saturday as chairman of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) celebration, permitting it to participate within the nationwide vote scheduled for February 8.
Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was nominated by Imran Khan himself to be the brand new chairman of the PTI, which the 71-year-old cricketer-turned-politician based in 1996. The 2 should not associated.
The celebration’s chief election commissioner, Niazullah Niazi, stated Gohar was elected unopposed.
The change was pressured on the celebration after the Election Fee of Pakistan warned the PTI final month that it risked shedding its emblem – a cricket bat – except an inside poll was held for celebration officers.
Election symbols are essential in a rustic the place the grownup literacy price is 58 p.c, in response to World Financial institution information.
‘Babysitting’ for the celebration
After his election, the PTI’s new chief instructed celebration supporters within the northern metropolis of Peshawar, the place the election outcomes have been introduced, that he would stay a loyal consultant of Imran Khan.
“I will step down once the conviction of Imran Khan is overturned,” he stated.
One other of Khan’s attorneys, barrister Ali Zafar, stated selecting Gohar Ali Khan as a alternative was only a “babysitting” association for the celebration.
Imran Khan has been embroiled in a tangle of political and authorized battles since he was eliminated as prime minister in April 2022 in a parliamentary vote of no confidence. He has not been seen in public since he was jailed for three years in August for unlawfully promoting state presents whereas in workplace from 2018 to 2022.
Regardless of securing bail in that case, he stays in jail for one more trial in an official secrets case alongside along with his celebration’s vice chairman, Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Imran Khan has denied all the fees in opposition to him, as has Qureshi, a former overseas minister.
Imran Khan has depicted his elimination as a part of a marketing campaign in opposition to him by then-Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the USA and the Pakistani army – a declare all three deny.
