PTI chief Gohar denies Imran Khan welcomed the end of his party’s government in KP, calling the reports “completely false”
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said on Tuesday that party founder Imran Khan never said it was good that the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had ended, rejecting reports that followed a lawyer’s jail meeting with the incarcerated former prime minister.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan on Tuesday strongly rejected reports that party founder Imran Khan had expressed satisfaction over the end of the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, calling the claim completely false.
Speaking to reporters in Rawalpindi, Gohar said a television channel had run a report suggesting that Imran Khan had said it was very good that his government in the province had ended. “One thing I must strongly refute — which some TV channel ran, claiming Khan Sahib said it was very good that his government ended in KP — that is completely false,” he said, adding: “Khan Sahib never used any such words.”
The reports emerged after Barrister Salman Safdar met Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi at Adiala jail on Monday, following repeated requests for access to the incarcerated former prime minister. Gohar said questions had since been raised about Imran Khan’s views on the party, its movement and the situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and that he wanted to put the record straight.
According to Gohar, Safdar told the party leadership that Imran Khan was aware of the emergency and governor’s rule imposed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which suspended the PTI’s provincial government, but that little political discussion took place during the meeting. Safdar, he said, had not returned from Adiala with any major political message from the PTI founder.
Gohar welcomed the fact that the meeting had finally taken place, saying restrictions on access to Imran Khan had contributed to heightened political tensions. He argued that had meetings been allowed earlier, matters might not have reached the point of emergency and governor’s rule in the province, and he described the denial of family meetings within 15 days as a violation of human rights.
The PTI chairman also moved to shut down speculation about divisions inside the party after the suspension of its provincial government. He said all PTI lawmakers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remained with Imran Khan, that there was no forward bloc, and that no member would suddenly come forward to become chief minister, because any such decision would be made by the party founder alone.
Gohar reiterated the party’s support for suspended Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, saying there had been no decision by Imran Khan to replace him. Pakistan Today reported that Gohar maintained the PTI founder continued to support the restoration of the elected provincial government and had not changed his position on the issue.
The party, Gohar said, is pursuing legal, political and parliamentary options against the emergency and governor’s rule, and has called for talks with the federal government to restore the previous constitutional arrangement. Daily Pakistan reported that a Peshawar High Court hearing on petitions concerning the recovery of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister and the speaker had been referred to a larger bench on Tuesday.
Gohar also said the party had repeatedly sought political meetings with Imran Khan, including for himself and Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, and that the prolonged restrictions on access had themselves become a source of political friction. He added that the PTI stood with the state and Pakistan, while warning that political vendetta posed a threat to democracy.
What happens next will turn on two separate tracks: the legal challenge to the emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and whether regular access to Imran Khan resumes after Monday’s meeting. For now, the party’s public position, as stated by its chairman on Tuesday, is unambiguous — Imran Khan did not welcome the end of his party’s government in the province, and the PTI wants that government restored.
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