ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) witnessed a flurry of apparent desertions after at least five leaders including former human rights minister Shireen Mazari bid the party adieu on Tuesday, with Imran Khan accusing the powers that be of using pre­ssure tactics to dismember his political party.

Since May 9, several members of the PTI, including former cabinet ministers Aamir Kiani and Malik Amin Aslam, have parted ways with Mr Khan over violence which also engulfed military installations. In an informal talk with court reporters at the Islamabad Judicial Complex, Mr Khan said the decisions by several PTI leaders to quit the party were coerced.

When asked why leaders were quitting PTI, Mr Khan replied, “People are not quitting; they are be­ing forced to leave the party at gunpoint.” He said: “The political parties could not be dismantled through such tactics,” add­ing that “a [political] party could only be ceased with depletion of its vote bank”.

In a tweet later in the evening, Imran Khan also likened these desertions to “forced divorces”.

“We had all heard about forced marriages in Pakistan but for PTI a new phenomenon has emerged, forced divorces,” the former premier said. He also took a dig at human rights groups, wondering “where have all the human rights organisations in the country disappeared?”

Earlier in the day, Dr Shireen Mazari quit the PTI as well as active politics for the sake of her family, without uttering a single word against the party chairman. Dr Mazari’s decision came after she was arrested five times in connection with the May 9 violence over the span of almost two weeks.

In a news conference held at her residence in Islamabad, Dr Mazari condemned the violence and said she had given an undertaking of condemnation in the Islamabad High Court. She said that she never believed in violence and condemned attacks on military installations. She said she remained under arrest for 12 days, during which her daughter suffered a lot.

Fayyazul Hassan Chohan, a former provincial minister and PTI spokesperson, also quit the PTI because he “could not imagine speaking against the army”.

Mr Chohan also lashed out at his former boss and claimed that he had developed differences with the PTI chairman for the last year and the doors of Banigala and Zaman Park were closed for him. “Almost one year ago, I sent a WhatsApp to Mr Khan and also forwarded it to a journalist for the record. I don’t want to remain in a party which never cared about me,” he said.

The former minister said he was shocked over May 9 and 10 incidents. “My four family members, including me, were arrested and our houses were severely damaged by the officials of law enf­orcement agencies. When I was released from jail, I asked my family members if Mr Khan had spoken or tweeted in favour of me but I was shocked to know that he did not even bother to discuss my name,” he said.

Desertions in Punjab

Makhdoom Iftikhar Ali Gilani, a former PTI MPA from Uch Sharif, also announced his decision to quit the party in the backdrop of the May 9 violence in the country. Mr Gilani said that he has not yet decided to join any party, and for this purpose, he would consult his electorate.

Iftikhar Gilani had been in PML-N but in 2018 he managed to get a PTI ticket. Even now, PTI had nominated him as a party candidate and issued him a ticket to contest the election in Uch Sharif’s PP-250.

A former PTI MPA from Khanewal and existing ticket-holder from PP-209, Abdul Razzaq Niazi, in a press conference in Lahore, also parted ways with the PTI. He claimed that he did not quit the party under pressure. He also announced that he would return the PTI ticket to Imran Khan.

There were also reports that Jamshed Cheema and his wife Mussarat Cheema had also parted ways with the party. However the couple, who were incarcerated in Adiala jail, were re-arrested on Tuesday night after being released, alongside senior party leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi.