Several PTI leaders, including Barrister Gohar, resign from NA committees

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman MNA Gohar Khan has resigned from four National Assembly standing committees as party leaders continue to step down from NA bodies on PTI founding chairman Imran Khan’s order, Aaj News reported on Thursday.

Barrister Gohar has resigned from the NA standing committees on law and justice, human rights, IT and house business advisory and submitted his resignation to the NA speaker’s office.

Scores of other PTI leaders, including Shehryar Afridi, Shahram Khan Tarakai, Awais Haider Jakhar, Faisal Amin Gandapur and Aamir Dogar, have stepped down from their positions in different NA standing committees, after Imran on August 26 directed his party members to resign from all parliamentary committees as part of a strategy to boycott the upcoming by-elections in constituencies of party members disqualified in the May 9 cases.

The mass resignations represent a renewed escalation in the party’s ongoing protest and coordinated move viewed as a strategic act of defiance against the establishment.

National Assembly: IK asks PTI members to quit all parliamentary committees

Aleema Khan, Imran’s sister, said after a rare meeting with him at the Adiala jail that he had instructed all PTI members to immediately tender their resignations from their committee roles in the National Assembly.

Aleema told reporters that Imran also instructed PTI Chairman Gohar and General Secretary Salman Akram Raja to boycott the by-elections, describing participation as a move that would “only legitimise a flawed process”.

The party, according to PTI officials cited by Business Recorder, is divided over this decision as the majority of senior party leaders want to contest the forthcoming by-elections.

They said that a political committee vote was split, with 13 members in favour of contesting the elections and nine opposed. This split led PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja to offer his resignation, although the party chairman has refused to accept it.

Aleema also shared Khan’s concern over the arrest of his nephews Shershah and Shahrez, who face charges related to the 9 May 2023 riots.

Police allege Shershah was involved in attacks on officers and have video evidence placing him at the scene, while Shahrez’s name appeared in supplementary investigation reports last year.

“These punishments and disqualifications have never happened before in the political history of the country,” Aleema quoted her brother as saying.

As per details, Faisal Gandapur, brother of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, has resigned from NA standing committees on economic affairs, national food security, and the parliamentary task force on SDGs. Shehryar has tendered his resignation from the NA Standing Committee on Interior and Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir.

Shahram has stepped down from the NA standing bodies on finance and revenue, national health services and energy. Whereas, Dogar has stepped down from the NA committees on religious affairs, public account committee, energy and rules of procedure and privileges.