As the news of former television host and religious evangelist Aamir Liaquat joining Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaaf (PTI) became known, Salman Ahmed of Junoon, who has championed Imran Khan for decades, finally declared that he can no longer support the PTI’s chairman.
After former Muttahida Qaumi Movement member Aamir Liaquat joined PTI on Monday, the singer and guitarist took to Twitter on the same day and wrote, “After 35 years of defending, supporting and justifying ImranKhanPTI to the world, I no longer can. I fear that reptiles surround him.”
In another tweet, Ahmad stated, “It’s my democratic right to warn against #AmirLiaqat ImranKhanPTI can never benefit from this hypocrite, liar and a sleazy, slithering snake.”
Though several artists championed Imran Khan in the last elections, Salman Ahmed’s association with the former cricketer goes back decades and his decision to sever ties simply goes to show just how preposterous Imran Khan’s willingness to embrace Aamir Liaquat is.
On the plus side, it means that Junoon’s iconic songs will (hopefully) no longer serve as the soundtrack at PTI rallies and Ahmed won’t be writing patriotic (read: ironic) songs for Khan’s Naya Pakistan ideology.
Now that this bro-mance is over, will other artists such as Hamza Ali Abbasi follow suit? Probably not.
Apart from this defection, Adil Ansari who is a part of PTI’s social media team has also announced that he no longer would be a part of the political party. Taking to Twitter, Ansari said, this was “not the PTI I joined” and “with Aamir Liaquat types joining PTI, I don’t see light at the end of the tunnel.”
Ahmad shares a long history with the former cricket captain of Pakistan. He has been a supporter of PTI since the initial days and was often seen singing patriotic songs at the party’s rallies.
Even though the musician has remained staunch about personalities such as Aamir Liaquat joining the party, we are still not sure whether Ahmad has officially parted ways with the PTI chairman.