As many as 21 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf members of the National Assembly defected during the 26th Constitutional Amendment vote earlier this month, PTI lawmaker Sher Afzal Marwat said on Monday.

“A list of 11 defectors emerged during the approval of the constitutional amendment,” he said while appearing on Aaj News programme Spotlight with Munizae Jahangir. “We horrifyingly discovered that six or seven more individuals were in contact with the government.”

The government narrowly passed constitutional amendments on Monday giving lawmakers more power to appoint top judges, who have issued a series of recent decisions favouring opposition chief Imran Khan.

The judicial reforms changed the appointment process of the chief justice of Pakistan and the formation of benches. It also set a date for the end of riba (interest-based banking) “as far as practicable by January 1, 2028.”

According to reports, some lawmakers from Imran Khan’s party defected and were in favour of voting for the amendment despite the party’s decision to oppose it.

Zain Qureshi quit as the PTI deputy parliamentary leader amid an inquiry into violating party discipline by skipping the National Assembly session earlier this month.

Marwat, known for his outspoken demeanour, stated that the ruling coalition’s “negotiations for a bargaining” with JUI-F Chairman Maulana Fazlur Rehman were ongoing until the last moment. “If they had failed at any stage, those 12 defectors would have been revealed.”

If Fazl had not agreed, then 21 PTI MNAs would have been exposed, he claimed and added that all evidence points against such defectors.

The party had decided to shift all MNAs to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and had advised those abroad not to return, he revealed. “But some returned and aligned themselves with the opposing faction while those in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa discreetly escaped to join them.” He questioned their lack of explanation for their actions.

Marwat claimed that the deals made with defecting members were neither orchestrated by the Pakistan Peoples Party nor the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. He did not mention who was behind it.

“Attempts were made to reach nearly every MNA, with offers reaching up to Rs2 billion, which had indeed been given. The four who voted in favour did not do so altruistically.”

When asked, the PTI leader said that Khan would never want his wife, sisters, or family members to lead a protest. He substantiated his claims by saying that when Khan decided to nominate Barrister Gohar Ali Khan as chairman, the latter explicitly stated that “no family member would contest in party elections.”

While addressing the clause in the 26th Constitutional Amendment that prevents challenges, he posed a hypothetical scenario: “If a two-thirds majority approved a law mandating that men receive sterilisation injections in Pakistan, would that not be subject to challenge?”

He added: “Khan’s legal team has become limited, with most cases now handled by Barrister Ali Zafar and Salman Safdar while some cases are being overseen by Salman Akram Raja.”

Protests

Marwat clarified that he has no internal disagreements within the party.

According to him, he was relieved of his responsibilities related to the protests after April 11. Marwat noted that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur led five individual protests, achieving “significant success” by mobilising around 70,000 to 80,000 people to D-Chowk, despite the “leadership not being visibly present.”

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He was of the view that there should have been a “Plan B” during crises. He added that when the raid occurred at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House, there should have been an alternative leadership to take over the protest.

Marwat criticised the outcome of the large gatherings, stating that the arrests and confrontations led to “no fruitful results.”

He added: “If 15 to 20 MNAs had joined the protests, the entire nation would have rallied in support. I had suggested that KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur be kept on standby for backup.”