Key leaders who either left PTI or were ousted

LAHORE: Former federal minister Hammad Azhar has resigned from the party office, and is perhaps going to be the latest addition, along with others, to the list of important PTI members who either jumped the ship after odds had started to stack heavily against the former prime minister Imran Khan or the party expelled them during the last 28 years.

Some like Aleem Khan and Jahengir Tareen left on their own accord when party was going very strong.

Founded on April 25, 1996, PTI has witnessed a lot of desertions and defections within its rank and file during its political journey, though an over-whelming majority opted to part ways after the May 9 incident, whereby “expressing remorse and dismay” over the rioting, chaos and vandalism after Imran Khan’s arrest.

Here follow some major names that readily come to mind in this context:

Aleem Khan, Jahengir Tareen, Shireen Mazari, Fawad Chaudhary, Asad Umar, Fayyazul Hassan Chohan, Maleeka Bukhari, former AJK Premier Sardar Tanveer Ilyas, Messrs Aamir Kiani, Bilal Ghaffar, Sanjay Gangwani, Karim Gabol, Malik Jawad Hussain, Jai Parkash, Balochistan minister for minerals Mubeen Khilji, Major Tahir Sadiq and daughter Eman Tahir, Malik Amin Aslam, Murad Ras, Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Aftab Siddiqui, Dr Muhammad Amjad, Dr Imran Ali Shah, Faizullah Kamoka, Usman Tarakai, Dost Mazari, Chaudhary Wajahat Hussain, Mahmood Maulvi, Zaheer ud Din Khan Alizai, Sajjad Hussain Cheena, Malik Mujtaba Niaz Gishkori, Sardar Qaisar Abbas Khan Magsi, , and so have the likes of Brigadier Samson Sharaf, Hafeez Khan, Usman Buzdar, Nausherwan Burki, Tasneem Noorani, Farrukh Habib, Justice (r) Wajihuddin Ahmed, Atif Mian, Firdous Ashiq Awan, Faisal Vawda, Aun Chaudhry, Ishaq Khan Khakwani, Liaquat Jatoi, Tabish Gauhar, Nadeem Babar, Nadeem Afzal Chan, Lt. General (retired) Asim Saleem Bajwa, Shahzad Arbab, Mehmood Moulvi, Ali Zaidi, Imran Ismael, Pervez Khattak, Shaukat Tarin, Yousaf Baig Mirza, Shahzad Syed Qasim, Tania Aidrus, Dr Zafar Mirza, Uzma Kardar, Ajmal Wazir, Malik Asad Khokhar, Chaudhary Asghar, Hafiz Farhat Abbas, Ramesh Kumar, Raja Riaz, Noor Alam Khan, Ali Nawaz Awan, Usman Dar, Faiz Ullah Kamoka, Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain, Aftab Siddiqui, Dost Muhammad Mazari, Hisham Inamullah, Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Usman Khan Tarakai, Abdul Razaq Khan Niazi, Makhdoom Iftikharul Hassan Gillani, Mian Jaleel Ahmed Sharaqpuri, Khawaja Qutab Fareed Koreja, Aftab Siddiqui, Dr. Imran Shah, Mubeen Khilji, Jay Prakash, Khusro Bakhtiar, Hashim Jawan Bakht, Hashim Dogar, Rai Taimur Bhatti, Chaudhry Ikhlaq, and Samiullah, Mamoon Tarar and Sardar Mansab Ali Dogar etc. Azam Swati and Salar Kakar have also left PTI’s political and core committees.

It is imperative to note that only seven people (14 percent) of the 50-plus Cabinet members of Imran Khan, were his old companions, and almost 86 per cent of the government functionaries — all political turncoats — had either joined PTI on or after its historic Lahore rally of October 30, 2011, or just before the 2018 ballot exercise.