- Meets Tareen, Aleem Khan in Lahore to convey his decision of parting ways with PTI
LAHORE:
LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) continues to suffer blow after blow as another key leader and former special assistant to the prime minister, Ali Nawaz Awan on Sunday announced quitting the party and joined the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP).
On November 10, PTI leaders Ali Nawaz Awan and Amir Dogar were arrested from Mansehra. The former MNAs of PTI were arrested from the house of local PTI leader Razaullah Khan.
Khan and his cousin were also arrested. However, no law-enforcement agency confirmed their arrest.
Khan’s cousin reported both the former MNAs were shifted to the Buttal police station against the law. It was reported that some plainclothes men detained the former MNAs and the two others.
Notably, the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), led by the influential figure in the sugar industry Jahangir Khan Tareen, has come into existence from the politicians who have quit the PTI.
Awan, who had a significant role within the PTI, reportedly met with IPP’s patron-in-chief Jahangir Tareen and President Aleem Dar to convey his decision to part ways with the PTI.
Awan was welcomed by both Jahangir Tareen and Aleem Khan in Lahore for joining the party.
The meeting, which marked Awan’s official transition, was attended by Aun Chaudhry and other leaders of IPP.
Awan is not the first member of PTI to join the emerging political entity. The IPP predominantly comprises former members of the PTI, many of whom have parted ways with PTI, especially in the wake of the unrest on May 9.
The incident prompted several senior PTI leaders to relinquish their basic party memberships and align themselves with the IPP.
Earlier, Sadaqat Ali Abbasi and Usman Dar also parted ways with the former ruling party in the light of the May 9 events, but did not join any other political party.
Since May 9 ugly episode, many PTI leaders including close aides the party Chairman Imran Khan, have quit the party in all the four provinces. A majority of them have joined the newly-formed Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) while a group from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has formed their own faction of the party with the name of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-Parliamentarians under the chairmanship of Pervez Khattak.
