PTI to celebrate Founding Day today

LAHORE
PAKISTAN Tehreek-e-Insaf will enter 20th year today (Saturday) and its 19th Foundation Day will be celebrated across the country by the party supporters.
The PTI was founded by former Captain of Pakistan Cricket team Imran Khan, four years after his retirement from the game. The party was founded on the principle of equality, justice and to save the masses from the exploitation by the people associated with power.
The party, founded in 1996 underwent different testing phases in 19 years and suffered massive defeats in the polls of 1997 and 2002.
Besides, Imran Khan has also been under criticism time and again for continuing a solo flight and ignoring party’s core committee over major decisions.
In 1997 general elections, Imran Khan’s team couldn’t win a single seat and in 2002, Imran himself was the only member of party to have reached National Assembly while winning from his hometown, Mianwali.
It boycotted the 2008 general elections in support of deposed judges.
PTI emerged as a potential challenger to the mainstream parties, including PPP and PML-N by 2011 when in the month of October, a mammoth rally of the party supporters at Minar-e-Pakistan raised alarm bells for the two political forces who had enjoyed power most of the time. Within months since October 2011 rally, Imran’s bandwagon was full of noted political figures from Punjab and other parts of the country, including former acting president of PML-N Javed Hashmi, former PML-N MNA Inamullah Niazi, former PPP leaders, federal ministers like Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali, Afzal Sindhu, former federal ministers of PML-Q like Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri, Haji Sikandar Hayat Bosan, former Governor Punjab Mian Azhar, and dozens of Q leaguers, including former MNAs, MPAs, district nazims and ticket holders.
However, at the same time, PTI, which has claimed to be the party of anti-status quo came under criticism from rival parties for banking on old faces, comprising majority of Pervaiz Musharraf’s loyalists. PTI underwent first major test when it announced intra party polls, causing severe rifts within its cadres and most of the members parted ways with the party. Rest of the damage was done at the time of general elections over the distribution of tickets and Imran faced resentment even from his close aides like Inamullah Niazi and some newcomers in party like Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali and Sardar Ghulam Abbas etc.
Nevertheless, PTI gave a tough time to PML-N particularly in the election campaign. Just a couple of days before the May 2013 polls, PTI supporters faced a severe setback after Imran Khan, the party Chairman while addressing an election rally in a ground of Gulberg, NA-126, fell from lifter and got seriously injured.
Meanwhile, elections were held and amid severe allegations of rigging, PTI emerged victorious from 30 seats (including reserved seats) from Punjab Assembly, and gained majority in KP.
From Punjab, PTI won six National Assembly seats but the results were rejected by the party. From Sindh, it won a National Assembly seat from MQM dominated city of Karachi in the form of Arif Alvi and bagged three general seats of Sindh Assembly, all from Karachi.
After recovery, Imran returned to the National Assembly and protested against rigging in 2013 general elections while demanding setting up of Judicial Commission.
After the PTI’s demand wasn’t accepted by PML-N, it decided to quit all assemblies but KP and Imran, in August 2014 gave call for long march. The PTI caravan reached Islamabad and staged a sit-in there, which once again brought Tehreek-e-Insaf into limelight. ‘Go Nawaz Go’ slogans became quite popular in the streets of the countries but the same time, Imran Khan also came under criticism for his U-turn over several issues such as Civil Disobedience Movement, ambiguity over resignations of elected members etc.
Once again rifts started to appear in PTI ranks and party President Makhdoom Javed Hashmi parted ways with Imran over his different decisions such as attacking PTV building, provoking the workers over violence, relying on Musharraf’s buddies such as Ejaz Shah and Sheikh Rasheed.
With this, the PTI government in KP also came under immense criticism from different circles for ignoring the flood victims in the province where it was enjoying power. The KP Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak also spent most of time in Dharna which eventually invoked criticism on him.
The sit-in continued for more than four months and it was called off after the gory incident of Army Public School in which innocent school children were killed by terrorists. Imran’s decision was hailed across the divide. The PTI continued to protest over the delay in the setting up of Judicial Commission and finally, it reached consensus with the PML-N government over the issue.
PTI has suffered defeat in the NA-246 by-elections from Karachi in the hands of MQM. However, it is expected to win number of seats in local government polls in Cantonment Boards being held today in Punjab, the same day when it will turn 19.