Gandapur warns hypocrites harming PTI

ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Tuesday said there were hypocrites within the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, who were harming the party.

Talking to media at a check-post near the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, he claimed that some people in the party were running an agenda. He hurled a warning at them and remarked: “I am warning them that you are harming the party, our first goal is to unite and protect the country and the Constitution.” He regretted that meetings were being stopped due to internal divisions in the party, repeated requests for meetings were made but were stopped, ‘false allegations and political propaganda are the cause of our loss’. He said due to political pressure before the budget, clear instructions from the PTI founder were required.

Speaking about his efforts for the incarcerated party supremo, he claimed: “No one has made as much efforts as I have to bring the PTI founder out (of jail), big marches and rallies in the country’s history have been held (but) can anyone fight the state.” The founder of the party, he pointed out, many times said: “If you are ready for negotiations, then sit down and talk, the talk will be with the one who has the authority, our government was overthrown, were Afghan refugees responsible for this? We are trying in our province to send Afghan refugees back with honour and tradition.”

Gandapur emphasized that they said that they were fighting a war against terrorism, which was eliminated during the tenure of the PTI founder; the recent increase in terrorist incidents was worrying. Asked why does he not attend the funerals of the martyrs from the military, he responded by saying that politics has reached a state where now politics is being done on funerals. He regretted that statements were made by federal ministers on funerals and emphasized that politics should not be done on this issue, this is a very despicable act.

He clarified: “I was not here at the time of recent funerals and there will have been many funerals which the prime minister may not attend, now I should talk about why the prime minister did not come, it is a matter of deep sorrow, all of them are our brothers who are fighting for us.” He announced that he would go to the house of martyr Major Adnan. “I myself am from an army family, my father and brother are also from the army, my brother fought the Kargil War, when he went to the front at night, my mother cried,” he recalled.

Addressing the events of May 9, Gandapur distanced the PTI from violence, insisting that the incidents were not sanctioned by the party leadership. “May 9 was never part of our party policy. Any violations were individual actions,” he said and reaffirmed his loyalty to the party founder Imran Khan and said the PTI supremo remained his leader. He clarified that the party’s official Twitter account was still managed by those who were given access by the former premier. He made it clear that the party continued to follow the vision of its founding leader and not any other ideology.