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Imran Khan's aide Fawad Chaudhry resigns from PTI after Pak govt crackdown
This comes after Pakistan defence minister Khawaja Asif said that the government is considering imposing a ban on Imran Khan's PTI.
In another major blow to former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday announced his resignation from the party saying he has decided “to take a break from politics.” Fawad Chaudhry was one of the several PTI leaders who were picked and sent to jail in connection with the nationwide violence on May 9 following Imran Khan's arrest.
“In my earlier statement where I unequivocally condemned the 9th May incidents, I have decided to take a break from politics, therefore, I have resigned from the party position and parting ways with Imran Khan,” the former minister said in a tweet.
The Islamabad Police arrested Chaudhry on May 11 outside the Supreme Court in the national capital under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Ordinance (MPO) and shifted him to the Secretariat Police Station. Before his arrest, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry told reporters that the lawyers' community had become weak as there was infighting among them.
He said, "Never has a petitioner been arrested in such a manner," Geo News reported.
Chaudhry rushed back into the premises of the Supreme Court last week after the court ordered his release, alleging that the police had arrived to re-arrest him.
Chaudhry's announcement to quit PTI came a day after Shireen Mazari, a former minister and Khan's close aide left the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party and condemned the actions of the former prime minister's supporters who attacked and torched sensitive defence installations across Pakistan on May 9.
Mazari, 72, announced her resignation and retirement from active politics after she was released following her arrest for the fourth time since May 12. She served as the minister for human rights from 2018 to 2022, under Khan's regime.
"Not only the May 9 and 10 violence, but I’ve always condemned every kind of violence especially against state institutions and symbols like the General Headquarters, Supreme Court and Parliament,” she said.
She then announced her decision to quit Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party as well as active politics, saying the arrest had adversely affected her health and family. "From today, I’m not part of PTI or any active party because first [for me are] my family, my mother and kids,” she said.
