Fissures emerge in PTI as '21 lawmakers hint at forming forward bloc'

• Top leaders in parliament “compromised” for committees: dissidents.
• Several PTI lawmakers “decide to skip parliamentary party session”.
• Party matters should be discussed within party, says PTI’s Atif Khan.

ISLAMABAD: Cracks have emerged in the embattled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as 21 of its lawmakers, who are now part of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), hinted to form a forward bloc over top leadership's inability to secure release of party founder Imran Khan from jail, sources told Geo News on Wednesday.

In a setback to the former ruling party, 21 PTI lawmakers signalled to form a forward bloc and “conveyed a message” to Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan to start serious efforts for incarcerated leaders' release.

“More than 27 PTI lawmakers held consultations after Shehryar Afridi’s statement about his resignation. Meanwhile, Shandana Gulzar Khan, Sher Afzal Marwat and several lawmakers also protested over the incompetence of the party’s top leadership,” the sources revealed.

It emerged that several PTI legislators excused from attending the parliamentary party's session due to their differences besides alleging that the parliamentary leader in the Senate and the senior leaders in the National Assembly were "compromised" for some committees.

They alleged that some leaders were eyeing higher posts instead of focusing on the PTI founder and party leaders’ release from jails.

The 27 lawmakers were in favour of stepping down from the assembly while 21 of them mulled over forming a forward block, the sources added.

The revelations about heightened differences between PTI legislations were bolstered by a recent statement of MNA Shandana who told Geo News: "Resignations would be a better option if we cannot take the PTI founder out of jail."

“We are now beating the desk [here in the assembly] and wasting our energy for committees. It is quite better to sit at home. I have also threatened to tender our resignations after Afridi’s call,” she slammed the PTI’s top leadership.

Expressing serious concerns over top leaders’ activities in the legislature, Shandana alleged that many "suspicious characters in the political committee" had vanished from the scene after May 9 riots.

She added that the disgruntled leaders were not part of the party’s core committee. The MNA also claimed that after Afridi's announcement for resignation, Marwat also decided to step down.

Another PTI leader Atif Khan told Geo News that he also has objections on various matters within the party which was not an unusual thing for political parties.

He, however, suggested his fellow leaders to end rifts and differences via using party platforms instead of going public.

The development came to light after the party’s secretary general and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar, in response to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s offer to talks, showed conditional agreement to start negotiations with the coalition government once its founder and other incarcerated workers and leaders were out of jail.

Khan, the deposed prime minister who was ousted from power via the opposition's no-confidence motion in April 2022, has been facing a slew of charges ranging from corruption to terrorism since his removal as the premier.

After securing relief in other cases including £190 million reference and Toshakhana, the former premier was acquitted in the cipher case earlier this month but he remains behind bars due to his conviction in the iddat case.

The PTI founder has been behind bars since August last year after he was sentenced in the Toshakhana case and subsequently sentenced in other cases ahead of the February 8 elections.