By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan has directed his party’s lawmakers to resign from all parliamentary committees and boycott upcoming by-elections, his sister Aleema Khan announced Tuesday, exposing deep rifts within the party over its political strategy.
Speaking to reporters outside Adiala jail after meeting her brother, Aleema relayed Imran’s firm instructions. “He has ordered party members to tender their resignations from all standing committees in the National Assembly,” she said. The former prime minister also issued directives to the party chairman Barrister Gohar and secretary general Salman Akram Raja on the by-elections, stating, “Contesting the by-elections would only give legal justification to those polls,” according to Aleema.
The orders come as PTI grapples with internal discord over whether to participate in by-elections for national and provincial assembly seats, vacated after recent disqualifications of key its lawmakers. Local media reported that Khan has nominated Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen chief Allama Nasir Abbas for the Senate opposition leader post and Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chairman Mahmood Khan Achakzai for the National Assembly equivalent.
The by-election debate has sparked tensions within PTI’s ranks. On Monday, the party’s political committee voted 13-9 in favour of contesting the polls, defying Imran’s reported stance, relayed by Aleema, to boycott them. The decision prompted Raja to announce his intention to resign as secretary general, though he told journalists Tuesday that Imran had refused to accept his resignation.
Addressing speculation of a rift, Aleema dismissed reports of a heated exchange with Raja. “I had no bitter exchange of words with him. He is our lawyer and like a family member to all of us,” she said. “It is an issue of participation in the by-election, and you should ask him.”
Imran’s sister Uzma Khanum reinforced his position, stating, “Khan sahib very firmly, repeatedly, and clearly said not to contest the elections but to boycott them because there will be no benefit, it will harm the party and the movement for actual freedom, and the illegitimate disqualifications would be legitimised.”
Raja confirmed the political committee would meet again on Tuesday to reconsider the by-election stance in light of Khan’s “clear instructions”. He also clarified that PTI considers Omar Ayub and Shibli Faraz as the current opposition leaders in the National Assembly and Senate, respectively, while legal challenges continue. “If there is a need after that, the name Imran repeated today for the NA opposition leader is Mehmood Khan Achakzai,” Raja said.
PTI Chairman Gohar Khan, however, downplayed the controversy, saying he had neither seen Raja’s resignation statement nor received it in writing. “Imran khan will decide whether he continues or not,” Gohar told reporters, criticising internal disputes being aired publicly. “Imran Khan said no party leader would mention their resignation in public.”
The party’s Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqqas Akram confirmed he and Raja opposed the committee’s decision but were outvoted. Akram had announced on social media that PTI candidates would contest under the Sunni Ittehad Council banner, a move to navigate ongoing legal disputes over PTI’s intra-party elections and electoral symbol.
During the jail meeting, Khan expressed distress over his wife Bushra Bibi’s situation and the arrests of his nephews Shershah and Shahrez, accused of involvement in the May 9, 2023, riots. A police report alleged Shershah attacked officers, citing video evidence of his presence at Jinnah House, while Shahrez’s name surfaced in a September 2023 investigation. “Imran Khan said such punishments and disqualifications have never taken place before in Pakistan,” Aleema quoted him.
On his health, Aleema said Imran was in good condition but had an eye issue, for which a court petition would seek treatment by doctors from Pims hospital. She noted that she and her sisters, after months of being denied access, finally met Imran on Tuesday. “By the grace of Allah, we were able to meet him,” she said, marking their first reunion in four months.
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