By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Two prominent leaders announced on Monday that they were resigning from their party posts and one from politics altogether, after their parties suffered humiliating defeats in the general elections held last week.
Jahangir Tareen, the chief of Istehkam-i-Pakistan, a breakaway faction of former prime minister Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party, and Sirajul Haq, the emir of Jamaat-i-Islami, a right wing politico-religious party, both posted their decisions on X, a popular social media platform.
Tareen, a former ally of Khan, said he respected the will of the people and decided to step away from politics. “I will continue to serve my country to the best of my ability in a private capacity. May the next few years see Pakistan prosper,” he wrote.
Haq, who led Jamaat-i-Islami for seven years, said he accepted the responsibility for his party’s defeat and resigned from its leadership. He said he had worked hard but could not get success for his party.
Qaiser Sharif, the party’s central secretary of information, confirmed the development regarding Haq’s resignation, which he tendered after taking responsibility for the disappointing electoral performance.
Sharif said that the party’s secretary general, Ameerul Azeem, had summoned an emergency session of the central council on Feb. 17 at the party’s headquarters in Lahore. “The central council’s session will commence at 10 a.m. and mull over the situation [post-resignation of the party emir],” he said.
Media reports said that Pervez Khattak, the chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-Parliamentarians, another splinter group of Khan’s party, and a former chief minister of KPK, had also announced “taking a break from politics” after the election setback.
The resignations came after the general elections on Feb. 8, which gave a surprising victory to Khan’s backed independent candidates, securing the most 93 seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament.
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