Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said Wednesday he is ready to speak to “anyone who is in power” after his party’s top leaders began jumping ship following the May 9 riots.
\n“I am forming a committee. It will talk to ‘anyone who is in power’ on two things \u2014 if it helps the country according to ‘them’, I will leave politics. Second, how is it beneficial for the country if elections are held in October,” Khan said while addressing his supporters.
\n“Convince us on these two things. If they believe and satisfy the committee that my leaving politics will benefit the country, I will step back and leave politics,” he said.
\nA slew of leaders has been leaving the PTI after party workers ransacked and burnt military installations, including the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, following Khan’s arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case earlier this month.
\nThe latest setback the party suffered was earlier today when outspoken PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry said he was parting ways with Khan, just a day after Shireen Mazari, who held the same post, quit.
\nAs many as 30 PTI leaders \u2014 from all four provinces \u2014 have left and more are expected to follow suit, with thousands of workers behind bars for their alleged involvement in the vandalism.
\nWithout specifying, the former prime minister said “they” have benefitted from the arson at the Lahore Corps Commander House (Jinnah House) and used it to crack down on his party.
\n“[Such] a crackdown has never been seen in the history of the country,\u201d he said.
\n“They have jailed the entire leadership and even those who are not even a part of the party. There is only one way out, that they utter the magic words of \u2018I am leaving PTI’.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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