Gohar Ali Khan elected new PTI chairman to permit the get together to participate in nationwide election scheduled for February 8.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, at the moment in jail going through what he says are greater than 150 instances filed in opposition to him to maintain him from contesting elections subsequent yr, has been changed as head of the get together he based, officers say.
Certainly one of Khan’s legal professionals was elected on Saturday as chairman of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) get together, permitting it to participate within the nationwide vote scheduled for February 8.
Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was nominated by Imran Khan himself to be the brand new chairman of the PTI, which the 71-year-old cricketer-turned-politician based in 1996. The 2 aren’t associated.
The get together’s chief election commissioner, Niazullah Niazi, mentioned Gohar was elected unopposed.
The change was compelled on the get together after the Election Fee of Pakistan warned the PTI final month that it risked shedding its emblem – a cricket bat – except an inside poll was held for get together officers.
Election symbols are essential in a rustic the place the grownup literacy price is 58 p.c, in keeping with World Financial institution information.
‘Babysitting’ for the get together
After his election, the PTI’s new chief advised get together supporters within the northern metropolis of Peshawar, the place the election outcomes had been introduced, that he would stay a loyal consultant of Imran Khan.
“I will step down once the conviction of Imran Khan is overturned,” he mentioned.
One other of Khan’s legal professionals, barrister Ali Zafar, mentioned selecting Gohar Ali Khan as a alternative was only a “babysitting” association for the get together.
Imran Khan has been embroiled in a tangle of political and authorized battles since he was eliminated as prime minister in April 2022 in a parliamentary vote of no confidence. He has not been seen in public since he was jailed for 3 years in August for unlawfully promoting state items whereas in workplace from 2018 to 2022.
Regardless of securing bail in that case, he stays in jail for one more trial in an official secrets and techniques case alongside together with his get together’s vice chairman, Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Imran Khan has denied all the costs in opposition to him, as has Qureshi, a former overseas minister.
Imran Khan has depicted his elimination as a part of a marketing campaign in opposition to him by then-Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the USA and the Pakistani army – a declare all three deny.
