Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) faced a major political blow in Muzaffarabad after one of its prominent figures, Sardar Shah Nawaz Akhtar, announced his decision to join the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
He was formally welcomed into the party with a garland during a ceremony attended by senior leaders.
According to details, Sardar Shah Nawaz Akhtar, a central PTI leader and former assembly candidate, joined the PML-N along with hundreds of his supporters.
The event was headed by former Azad Kashmir prime minister Raja Farooq Haider, who personally greeted Akhtar and marked his inclusion in the party.
Speaking at the ceremony, Farooq Haider said the positive governance performance of Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif, and Maryam Nawaz was being felt across Azad Kashmir as well. He claimed this momentum was encouraging more political workers to shift towards the PML-N.
Several workers from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and PTI also announced their decision to join PML-N during the gathering.
This development comes a day after PTI’s Tehsil President from Bhimber, Tariq Mahmood, publicly quit the party.
In a press conference, Mahmood said he could not remain part of any political group that, in his view, harboured intentions against state institutions. He added that nothing was greater than the country and its armed forces, vowing to stand firmly with them.
ECP Refuses to Recognise Barrister Gohar as PTI Chairman
Earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) refused to recognize Barrister Gohar as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman.
The country’s supreme election body issued a response to an application filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Barrister Gohar Khan that he could not be recognised as the party’s chairman at present.
In the letter, the ECP wrote that Barrister Gohar has “no legal status as party chairman” since PTI’s intra-party elections are subjudice before Lahore High Court.
The ECP also said a decision cannot be rendered owing to the stay order placed on the intra-party polls and joined that senators joining PTI are also contingent upon that very case.
Gohar confirmed that he had received the ECP’s response and has decided to file a case with regard to this matter in the court. “The Election Commission of Pakistan has not accepted our intra-party election nor handed over a certificate,” he added.
When our Senate elections were held, people not affiliated with any party joined PTI,” he said while talking about the scenario after the Senate elections.