LAHORE: PTI Chairman Imran Khan has cancelled the basic membership of all leaders and office-bearers who had quit the party during the past few days.<\/p>\n
Although several leaders have parted ways with PTI in the fallout of the May 9 violence, the most notable among them were senior vice president Fawad Chaudhry, former federal ministers Shireen Mazari, Aamer Mehmood Kiani and former adviser to PM Malik Amin Aslam.<\/p>\n
It is not yet clear whether the PTI chief has revoked the membership of Asad Umar, who had stepped down as secretary general and a member of the core committee but had not quit the party altogether.<\/p>\n
Mr Khan also ordered the removal of defectors who were part of the party\u2019s core committee. They will no longer be part of PTI\u2019s WhatsApp groups and the social media accounts will be updated to modify the references of the defectors.<\/p>\n
Separately, in a statement on Thursday, the PTI chairman said his party\u2019s leaders and workers were \u201cfacing the full force of state terror\u201d.<\/p>\n
The statement was released to mark one year since the PTI workers clashed with the police during the long march towards Islamabad.<\/p>\n
He said the events of May 25, 2022 \u201ccommenced our descent into fascism\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Khan recalled that while he was in power, the PDM parties \u2014 who were then in the opposition \u2014 held three long marches which \u201cwere allowed without any\u201d hindrance by his government.<\/p>\n
\u201c[But] we faced the full force of state terror,\u201d Mr Khan said as he recalled the crackdown on his party\u2019s leadership before the march.<\/p>\n
\u201cHouses broken in the middle of the night and PTI office-bearers and workers kidnapped. And then whoever got to Islamabad faced tear gas, rubber bullets and police brutality,\u201d he said in a tweet.<\/p>\n
The PTI chief said that last year\u2019s events were \u201cjust the beginning\u201d and today \u201cthe only federal party is facing the full fury of state power without any accountability\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver 10,000 PTI workers and supporters in jail including senior leadership and some facing custodial torture.\u201d<\/p>\n
He reiterated that the May 9 violence was \u201ccondemned by the entire PTI leadership\u201d but the state was using arson as a pretext to dismantle his party<\/p>\n
including \u201cforced divorces\u201d and prosecuting PTI leaders and supporters in military courts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose in PDM and the journalist community who are cheerleaders for this yazeediyat should know that this is not dismantling PTI but our democracy i.e. our freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Khan added that \u201cthe attempt to enslave\u201d PTI will fail as today\u2019s youth was politically aware and gets information from social media even as the media was being muzzled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAHORE: PTI Chairman Imran Khan has cancelled the basic membership of all leaders and office-bearers who had quit the party during the past few days. Although several leaders have parted ways with PTI in the fallout of the May 9 violence, the most notable among them were senior vice president Fawad Chaudhry, former federal ministers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333506,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-333489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national"},"yoast_head":"\n