Former Pak PM Imran Khan claims PTI lawmakers being forced to switch loyalties

Islamabad [Pakistan], January 12 (ANI): Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members were being asked to part ways with him and were being coerced into believing that he had been marked with a “red line,” Dawn reported. He alleged that PTI lawmakers were being forced to switch loyalties.

Imran Khan said that PTI members were being told that he had no political future and committed to removing all these barriers with the help of his supporters. He accused the establishment of getting involved in politics and alleged that PTI lawmakers were being forced to switch loyalties ahead of Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi’s trust vote, as per the Dawn report.

Addressing the members of the Punjab parliamentary party, PTI Chairman Imran Khan said that those who wished to write him off were “arrogant” and without political understanding. He challenged the establishment that the political engineering purportedly being carried out to damage PTI would be “swept away by the sea of people” who would take to the streets as happened on April 10, as per the news report.

Imran Khan said that people had shattered plans of powers by voting for PTI in by-polls in July and October, according to Dawn. He stated that PTI is sacrificing its assemblies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The cricketer-turned-politician expects that the elections will be held in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa within a stipulated time. He said that PTI will come to power and take “strong decisions” for the nation.

In his remarks regarding Punjab Assembly, Imran Khan said that he was monitoring PTI’s legislators in Punjab whose support he called crucial to retain Parvez Elahi as chief executive. He stressed that victory was not far away for PTI. Imran Khan also held a meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi and his son Hussain Elahi to discuss the vote of confidence in the Punjab Assembly.

In the early hours of Thursday, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi managed to obtain a vote of confidence from the Punjab Assembly after the opposition walked out, as per the Dawn report. Speaker Sibtain Khan presided over the session in Punjab Assembly. Khan said that Elahi received 186 votes to retain his position and one less than the 187 that PTI leaders had claimed to have prior to voting.

Ahead of the voting, lawmakers engaged with each other in angry jostling. Later, the opposition lawmakers staged a walkout from the assembly. Punjab Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has termed the session’s proceedings “against the rules and Constitution” and accused the speaker of “bulldozing” the vote of confidence in the Punjab Assembly.