'Hamstrung' PTI makes do with Barrister Gohar Ali Khan for chief's throne
Pakistan
PTI chief will not take part in electioins for the time being: Ali Zafar
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday put rumours to rest by announcing Barrister Gohar Ali Khan's candidature for party's interim chairman slot in the intra-party elections.
The party announced that the all-important intra-party elections would be held on Dec 2 (Saturday).
Addressing a press conference outside the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) office in Islamabad, Barrister Ali Zafar said the party elections would be held on Dec 2. He said the party had reservations against the ECP decision but elections would be held on Saturday. The party would challenge the commission's decision at a later stage, he added.
He said the PTI chairman had given his consent for Barrister Gohar Ali Khan's nomination as interim chairman. He said the party did not want to take any risk and for the time being, he (PTI chief) would not take part in intra-party elections.
He dispelled the impression of "minus-one formula" - a reference to PTI chief's ouster from the election process.
The PTI, he said, stood nowhere without its chief. He said only Toshakhana case had been decided so far. He said the sentence awarded to the PTI chief was illegal and unconstitutional.
He said the PTI had held intra-party elections in 2021 and 2022. Its legal team met the ECP representatives back then and presented documents regarding elections in 2021 and 2022. The ECP said the commission was satisfied that the party had held elections.
Barrister Gohar briefly spoke to media and said the PTI chief was, is and would be chairman of the party, implying that he (Gohar) was in the race as a stop-gap arrangement.
