Senior PTI leaders Ali Zaidi, from Karachi, and Ibad Farooq, from Lahore, on Wednesday condemned the violence that followed Imran Khan’s arrest on May 9 but refused to quit the party. However, Aamir Kiani, another leader and a former minister, has jumped ship.
Kiani addressed a press conference in islambad on Wednesday afternoon saying he is from a military family and he never supported the narrative against the Pakistan Army.
He said he joined the PTI in 1996 and has faced several politically-motivated cases, but he was saddened by the events of May 9.
“I cannot partake in this kind of politics,” he said.
He announced that he was leaving not only the PTI but also politics.
Kiani refused to offer any comments about Imran Khan or his politics.
Aamir Mehmood Kiani is the second leader to quit the party after Mahmood Maulvi.
Before holding the press conference he confirmed his decision in a TV interview. “The decision was made two months ago, and today I’m announcing it,” he said.
When the PTI leader was asked whether he informed Imran Khan before the decision, he said that he had not spoken to Imran Khan for a month.
A couple of hours before Kiani held his press conference, senior PTI leader Ali Zaidi spoke to reporters in Karachi and condemned the May 9 attacks saying it was not the work of PTI.
He claimed that a false FIR was registered against him as he was trying to stop the mob from attacking state assets.
Ali Zaidi, a former federal minister is under house arrest. H
e said that he came to know about the May 9 situation a couple of days ago. “I want to make two to three things clear here…I came back to the house after two days and was put under a house arrest at the moment.”
“The things and details I saw of the TV, the things that run on the television are highly condemnable,” he said. “I only believe Imran Khan is the only politician here in this country and he belives in ‘non-violence’, this is what he thought us.”
“I never favour violence, and never will. Army is ours and we are from the army.”
While commenting on parting ways from the PTI, Zaidi said that he has no clue from the rumors about him quitting the party had emerged.
“Everyone should listen to this clearly that I will only leave PTI when Imran Khan leaves the party,” he said. “I you want me to leave PTI while Imran Khan is alive, shoot me in the forehead.”
“This is my party. I have given 23 years of my life to it,” he became emotional while speaking about the party. “The only regret I have is that some people from inside the party spill these things in the media.”
“No one can pressurise me into leaving PTI. Even if Imran Khan kicked me out, I will become a watchman [rather than join another party],” Zaidi concluded.
Earlier in the day Ibad Farooq, a PTI ticket holder, blamed Dr Yasmin Rashid and Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed for setting the Corps Commander House on fire.
Doing so, he announced to return the PP-149 Lahore ticket and said that he will contest as an independent candidate in the upcoming elections.
“I condemn what happened on May 9, other leadership including Yasmin Rashid and Mahmud-ur-Rashid called workers at Liberty Chowk and said that the Corps Commander House has to go and set it on fire,” he said in a video message.
In recent months, he was arrested twice by the police.
The PTI lawmaker has been arrested in connection with the vandalism of a police van during the PTI’s jail Bharo movement, while a case was also registered against him in the May 9 events.
