PTI founder claims some party leaders in contact with 'establishment'

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan on Saturday claimed that some of his party leaders were in contact with the “establishment”, ARY News reported.

“These people want to break the party [PTI] and they are the same people levelling allegations against Bushra Bibi,” the former prime minister said in an informal conversation with journalists during the hearing of the Toshakhana reference in Adiala jail.

On restructuring of party committees, Imran Khan said that the committees handle routine political affairs and the core committee will have the final authority in the decision-making.

Days earlier, the PTI founder removed MNA Sher Afzal Marwat from key party roles following recommendations from PTI’s core committee.

Marwat was also removed from the list of given names for meetings with Khan at Adiala Jail. The new focal persons include Umar Ayub, Barrister Ali Zafar, Shibli Faraz, and Barrister Gohar Ali Khan.

Reacting to the decision, Sher Afzal Marwat on April 4 alleged that his name was removed from the list of focal persons through a conspiracy.

Speaking outside the Islamabad High Court (IHC), the PTI leader lamented the fact that only six people could meet PTI founder Imran Khan in Adiala jail in a week.

In today’s conversations, Imran Khan once again called for negotiations for the betterment of the country.

The PTI founder said that he did not de-notify former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa despite his actions ‘felt like a betrayal’.

“Although General Bajwa’s actions felt like a betrayal, we [the then PTI government] refrained from convening a committee to confront him,” the deposed prime minister said while speaking to journalists in an informal conversation during the hearing of the Toshakhana reference in Adiala jail.