- KP CM rebuffs speculations, saying, ‘The founder is the party, and no one can hold a position higher than him’
- Sh Waqas declares Imran’s rising popularity amid ‘repression and fascism’ has unnerved the ruling camp
- Says despite the dirty tricks and palace conspiracies, Imran Khan remains Pakistan’s hope
- Javed Hashmi lauds struggle of PTI founder, visits jail to express solidarity with incarcerated ex-PM
ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday categorically rejected “what it described as a concerted campaign” to politically sideline its founder amid renewed murmurs of a “minus Imran” formula, saying that Imran Khan is the party itself and “he is not minused but multiplied.”
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur rebuffed speculations that Imran had become politically irrelevant. “Minus Imran?…..the PTI founder is the party and no one can hold a position higher than him,” he declared.
Stressing Imran’s continuing authority, he reiterated, “If the founder wants to end the government, I can do it in a minute. This government belongs to him.”
While party spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram accused PML-N’s Azma Bokhari and her allies of running a “palace-backed agenda to fracture PTI from within.”
In a statement, Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari said that Imran Khan had been “sidelined by his own sister and party”. “Look at fate’s irony. The one who sought to sideline Nawaz Sharif has himself been pushed aside at home and within his party.”
Azma alleged that Aleema Khan, Imran’s sister, is continuously plotting against K-P Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and that Gandapur himself had recently acknowledged conspiracies against him.
“If Ali Amin had not managed to get the provincial budget approved in time, he would have been constitutionally forced to step down,” she stated.
Azma noted that PTI is split into three factions at the Centre and three separate groups in KP.
In KP, one group is led by Junaid Akbar, another by Atif Khan and the third comprises rebellious party members, she said
Reacting to Bukhari’s remarks, PTI alleged that the entire ruling coalition—”acourt of puppets and maids” in Waqas’s words—was obsessed with the idea of “minus Imran” and had “disgraced itself” in the process.
Simultaneously, Gandapur, speaking outside the Supreme Court, warned that a covert plan was underway to impose a financial emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and “usurp” its PTI-led government, linking the moves to deliberate exclusion of Imran Khan from the budget process and backdoor power plays.
He alleged that some actors were trying to exploit Imran’s incarceration to advance their own agendas. “When the founder is free, these agenda-driven individuals will be unmasked. The public will judge those weakening Imran.”
He further claimed that meetings had been deliberately obstructed and consultations blocked. “A conspiracy was underway to take over our government, but it failed,” he added.
Describing the quick passage of the provincial budget without Imran’s consultation, Gandapur added, “The best budget is ours—we just needed to tell Imran. As the government, we have the power to amend it anytime. Any necessary changes directed by the founder will be implemented.”
He warned of an alleged plan being hatched behind the prime minister’s back to “impose a financial emergency, enforce governor rule, and seize control of the province.”
Meanwhile, in a parallel response issued from party headquarters, PTI’s central spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram took direct aim at PML-N’s Azma Bukhari. “In their desperation to ‘minus’ Imran Khan, the entire royal court stands disgraced and exposed,” the statement read.
It went on to accuse the ruling alliance of “burying the Constitution, the law, justice, democracy, values, and humanity itself” in its effort to sideline the PTI founder.
“By the grace of God, Imran Khan has not been ‘minused’ but multiplied, and the nation has placed him above all others,” Waqas declared. According to the statement, Imran’s rising popularity amid “repression and fascism” had unnerved the ruling camp.
He accused government operatives of repeatedly attempting to divide the PTI and weaken its grassroots base. “Desperate and defeated puppets, mired in humiliation and hysteria, now try to cover their shame by spreading conspiracies of division and discord within PTI,” he said.
Waqas claimed that every plan over the past three years to “fracture the unity of a party that guards the Constitution and democracy” had ended in failure and disgrace. “Imran Khan is not only the leader of PTI. He is the leader of the nation. Despite the dirty tricks and palace conspiracies, Imran Khan remains Pakistan’s hope,” he added.
He said the party would weather this storm like it had before. “Just as we’ve faced every previous challenge with unity, we’ll do so again. The maids and lackeys of the regime will lose sleep once again”.
He also blasted governance in Punjab, accusing the ruling coalition of corruption. “The mandate thieves of Punjab now carry the shameful stain of Rs1 trillion in financial misconduct,” he claimed.
Targeting Bukhari directly, he added: “Instead of spouting unhinged propaganda as the unbridled mouthpiece of these mandate thieves, she should explain to the people how their wealth is being plundered under the leadership of ‘Panama Queen'”.
Hashmi says no one can minus Imran Khan
Meanwhile, senior politician Javed Hashmi lauded the struggle of PTI founder Imran Khan, saying no one can undermine or minus Imran Khan’s role.
Talking to the media outside Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, Hashmi said that he visited jail to express solidarity with PTI founder Imran Khan. “I came here to meet the PTI founder, but the police did not allow me.”
Hashmi said that, “if the constitution is restored in the country in its true form, then the country will make progress.”
He added that the establishment in Pakistan wanted to control everything, adding that Imran Khan was not asking for his release but demanding rule of law.
He said that if the constitution prevails in the country, the country and economy will run.
Hashmi said that there is no political party in Pakistan that is truly raising its voice for the Constitution and democracy. He added that those who do not talk about the constitution are not doing real politics.
