ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Thursday sent out a clear message to those working on “minus-Imran” formula, saying “he stands firm with Imran Khan”.

Qureshi – who has been detained by authorities under 3 MPO – conveyed the message to the powers during a meeting with his daughter Gohar Bano Qureshi and his lawyer Barrister Taimur Malik, at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

In a video message, Bano, after meeting with Qureshi said that “Qureshi has sent out a clear message to PTI workers to stand firm as he was with Imran Khan, and will remain with him till last breath”.

The counsel for Qureshi said he is going to file a petition against the detention of his client with the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC).

The message from Qureshi comes after a group of PTI defectors led by Fawad Chaudhry met Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Adiala Jail on Wednesday, apparently to convince him to desert Imran Khan.

However, the sources said the meeting of the group comprising former Sindh governor Imran Ismail, Amir Kiayani and Mehmoud Moulvi, which was arranged in a separate room of the jail, failed to achieve its objective.

Minutes after the meeting, Qureshi’s son Zain Qureshi took to Twitter and said: “Makhdoom sahib is the vice chairman of the party and is the name of an ideology. We stand with the ideology of PTI and Imran Khan. He [Shah Mahmood] has only done politics of principles and service, not position and greed.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023