ISLAMABAD: In a bid to remain steadfast in his crusade against the powerful military establishment’s never ending interference in political matters, the jailed ex-prime minister Imran Khan is expected to replace the “faint-hearted” party chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan with the flamboyant rigid pathan and his longtime loyalist Asad Qaiser of Swabi.
The sources within Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) told Business Recorder that the jailed founding party chairman handpicked Asad Qaiser as new chairman of the party, replacing Barrister Gohar for his “sheer incompetence” to manage the party affairs at a testing time.
They said that Khan also nominated Ali Muhammad Khan, another rigid pathan from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mardan district known for fiery speeches, as party secretary-general after Salman Akram Raja called it a day, accepting his “failure” to spearhead the party from Punjab province during the party’s November 24 crucial power show. According to the sources, Imran Khan gave the orders while meeting with Barrister Ali Zafar, who reportedly met him in the notorious Adiala Jail.
During the meeting, Khan was informed about the government’s recent crackdown on the party’s sit-in, for which Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif lauded the army chief’s “cooperation and help” to disperse the demonstrators.
The sources said that the jailed party leader vowed to continue his fight against the “usurpers” till his “last breath”, saying “he doesn’t care if the cases against him are sent to the military courts” – exceptional courts run by military officers only in Pakistan that allows civilians’ trial, using secret procedures that deny due process rights.
They said that Khan has already appointed Asad Qaiser and Ali Muhammad Khan as chairman and secretary general of the party, respectively, but the party is yet to make the announcement as some of the senior party leaders, who are believed to be close to the military establishment, are resisting the move to block their appointment, under one pretext or another.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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