Imran to decide on party leaders’ return: Hammad

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Punjab Acting President Hammad Azhar on Tuesday said that it is for party supremo Imran Khan to decide the fate of PTI leaders, who parted ways with the party in “press conferences”.

Numerous PTI leaders including Imran’s close aides and bigwigs have left the party on different occasions since May 9 — the day when former ruling party’s workers ransacked state installations after the ex-premier’s arrest.

“The majority of those who were forced to hold press conferences wish to return to the party. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan will personally decide on the return of these individuals on a case-to-case basis,” Azhar stated in a tweet.

In a separate tweet, the PTI stalwart asked authorities concerned to release all political prisoners. “Stop turning the criminal justice system into a joke”. Azhar said his colleagues had been languishing in jails for more than seven months “despite being innocent”.

“I myself have been falsely nominated as an accused in dozens of fake FIRs despite being not present on any single incident mentioned (one overly imaginative mind even listed me as chucking petrol bombs on mall road),” he tweeted.

The politician, who is a former federal minister, also asked the authorities to stop rearresting people after bail. “Stop booking people in fake cases after arbitrarily arresting them for holding political association with the PTI. Let the people of Pakistan decide who will govern them,” he said.