LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan has criticised the government over, what he termed, the worst form of political victimisation, citing the detention of party leaders, lawmakers, and family members of the PTI founder.
Speaking to the media during a visit to Lahore on Wednesday to express solidarity with the PTI founder’s arrested sisters on Wednesday, the PTI Chairman highlighted the expanding scope of state action against party leadership and their families. He revealed that four family members of the PTI founder and eight members of the National Assembly (MNAs) are currently under arrest, while several provincial ministers remain missing.
Gohar warned that democratic norms are being dismantled and that the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has effectively been placed under unannounced Governor’s Rule.” He underscored the worsening political vacuum in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, asserting that federal authority has forcibly taken over state apparatuses despite PTI holding a clear democratic mandate with the majority of elected MPAs and MNAs in the province. He warned that this usurpation of provincial authority sets a dangerous precedent for the country’s democratic future.
Rejecting allegations regarding the party’s upcoming PTI’s long march, Gohar accused a faction within the government of launching a deliberate propaganda campaign to malign the movement. He emphasised that the PTI intends for its planned long marches to take place entirely within peaceful parameters. He firmly denied claims that the demonstrations would target state institutions, stating that the party must work to dismantle the narrative created by elements in power. Furthermore, he noted that the PTI leadership understands precisely which stakeholders must be engaged to resolve the prevailing crisis.
While reiterating PTI’s commitment to resolving national issues through political channels, Gohar dismissed the government’s recent public overtures for talks as superficial and completely lacking in substance. He noted that key coalition figures, including Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, alongside PTI leadership, remain fully prepared for serious discussions, yet the ruling administration currently shows no real intention to resolve the ongoing crisis.
He stressed that political disputes can only be settled through political means. “In politics, no word is final,” he remarked, adding that the ultimate fate of those who seek to undermine political opposition is well known to all.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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