Three women PTI leaders Andleeb Abbas, Sadia Sohail, and Sumaira Bokhari have decided to quit their party to join the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party, which is led by former ruling party defector Jahangir Tareen.

They announced the decision on Tuesday in a press conference where they sat next to old faces of PTI who were now part of the IPP.

Andleeb, Sadia, and Sumari would be joining several of their former party mates in the new party. Earlier this month, former state information minister Farrukh Habib parted ways with the Imran Khan-led party and joined the IPP, five months after going missing.

Many leaders from the PTI have quit the party or joined the Tareen-led IPP after the government’s crackdown on the people who vandalised state properties and damaged state properties on May 9 when Khan was first arrested in a graft case.

“Basically we have to see the future. We have to see what the cause is. A person and a party are not bigger than the cause, so the cause should be the way forward,” Andleeb said.

According to her, the cause was related to the sufferings of the common people. “Our cause is common people,” she said and lamented that the country’s economic and social situations were not stable.

She went on to add that there was “depression” and “anxiety” in the country.

She went on to add that there was “depression” and “anxiety” in the country. Andleeb stated that the development of the common people should be the basis for the policies and programme.

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Sadia started speaking at the presser by saying that she has a non-political background and was aware of the common people’s issues. “The purpose was always to serve the people and still it was the same. Right now, the country is the priority and that’s why we have to think beyond parties,” she said and added that the three leaders were addressing the press conference “for the betterment” of the country.

The former MPA added that she would continue to serve the people.

Sumaira also spoke in the same vein, saying: “Nothing is more important than your own country.” She added that despite joining the new party they were following the same agenda: to serve people.

She expressed hope that they would be able to achieve their goals.