Mazari’s resignation is a major setback for the PTI, as Qureshi, Musarrat Cheema, and her husband were all re-arrested shortly after being freed from Adiala Jail.
ISLAMABAD: In a perplexing political climate characterized by arrests, releases, and rearrests, the PTI leaders appear to be stuck in a revolving door as they repeatedly resign from the party and politics.
A seemingly endless series of arrests and rearrests from inside prison walls seems to be breaking their will. Dr. Shireen Mazari, a prominent member of the PTI, finally gave up the fight on Tuesday night after being arrested five times.
Shireen told the media in Islamabad that her health and her daughter Imaan Mazari’s had suffered greatly during her 12-day incarceration, and that she was leaving the party and retiring from active politics as a result.
Children, family, and health problems have convinced me to leave politics. She explained, “My family and children are my number one concern. “I have spoken out against the tragic events of May 9 and 10. I have spoken out against any and all sorts of chaos.
On Monday, after having been released from the Adiala Jail per a court order, Shireen was once again apprehended outside the facility. A contempt notice for a plea about Shireen’s arrest was issued by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) earlier in the day.
Fayyazul Hasan Chohan, formerly the minister of communication for the Punjab, announced his resignation from the PTI in a fiery press conference on Tuesday.
Chohan expressed his displeasure with the party’s developing “policy of violence” in his remarks to the press. He was dissatisfied with party leader Imran Khan because he had not warned against the use of violence in politics.
I am making it public that I have absolutely no connection to the PTI. Chohan affirmed, “I am not leaving politics. People talk about software, but my hardware is both P+ and Army+, as they say. To this day, I am a dedicated patriot.
Chohan has voiced his displeasure with what he sees as the PTI’s hostile approach against the country’s institutions and the army. He claimed to have pleaded with Imran to change his aggressive strategy and return his attention to the ongoing political fight.
Chohan was coy when asked about his political future, but he was firm that he wouldn’t be quitting. He said that his future move would be determined by events, suggesting that he might switch political affiliations.
On the same day, Musarrat Jamshed Cheema, the spokesperson for the PTI, and her husband Jamshed Cheema were released from the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, only to be rearrested shortly thereafter.
After being released on the instructions of a local court, Qureshi and the Cheemas remained in detention for an additional 15 days under 3 MPO (Maintenance of Public Order).
From outside the prison, the Rawalpindi police took them into custody.
In a brief interview with the press, Qureshi denied reports of his defection from the party, saying that he was still an active member. “I am in the party and will remain in the party,” the ex-foreign minister declared.
“Compelled marriages”
PTI Chairman Imran may view these defections as “forced divorces at gunpoint,” but political experts see it as an attempt to fragment the PTI, much like the overnight transformation of the PML-N into the PML-Q at the turn of the last century.
Without any equivocation, this is the direct effect of institutional pressure. Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, a former senator for the PPP, has warned that the government is only adding fuel to the fire.
Khokhar was eventually expelled from the PPP because he refused to silence his criticism of human rights abuses committed by PTI officials.
He expressed displeasure with the common practise of forcing politicians to resign from office.
He also stressed that the current administration shouldn’t celebrate the exit of their political rivals.
Those who are celebrating this development now will undoubtedly come to regret it tomorrow, and it’s a bad sign for politics as a whole.
The former senator remarked that “only time will tell if the PTI survives this” when asked about the maelstrom of arrests and ongoing pressure from the influential quarters.
“The PML-N overnight converted into the PML-Q if we recall,” Khokhar said, adding that the PPP had gone through a similar phase in the past. However, Nawaz Sharif is still a political reality today.
While the PTI and its employees had much to learn from other parties, he stressed the importance of discouraging a culture of arson and vandalism.
After the arrest of the former prime minister in a fraud case on May 9, a series of attacks on critical civilian and military sites occurred.
Scores of PTI supporters, including important party leaders, were detained after protestors rushed to the streets following the arrest, attacking and ransacking critical government and military institutions. Several people were killed and others were injured.
Party leaders Fawad Chaudhry, Asad Umar, Qureshi, Dr. Yasmeen Rashid, Shireen, Maleeka Bukhari, Chauhan, Musarrat Cheema, and her husband were all detained.
Since then, about a dozen party leaders have said they are leaving, and more are expected to do so soon.
According to Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat), most PTI politicians are feeling the heat after the events of May 9.
According to the PILDAT leader, “the idea probably is to cripple or factionalise the PTI so that it is no longer a potent political force.” Mehboob responded to concerns about the apparent goal of the push and who stands to gain the most by saying, “I don’t think anybody will benefit from these acts unless political action goes hand in hand with administrative and punitive actions.”
While the topic of forced marriages in Pakistan is well-known, PTI Chairman Imran claimed that the party had seen a new trend: forced divorces.
What happened to all the human rights groups in the country, he tweeted.
Imran has previously tweeted that the PTI leaders were being “forced at gunpoint” to leave the party.
At a courthouse in Islamabad, Imran told reporters, “People are not leaving the party on their own, they are being forced to do so, and that too at gunpoint.”
But he insisted that the loss of the party’s top leaders didn’t disturb him, saying that “parties never die down like that; they are weeded out like the [ruling coalition] PDM is eroding, the way their vote bank is depleting.”
“I am only worried about the workers, and especially the women,” he added.
When the PTI leaders were unexpectedly released on bail on Tuesday, the authorities moved rapidly to ensure that their parole would be brief.
Not only were PTI leaders and workers detained in the immediate aftermath of the protests, but the country’s civil and military leadership also pledged to try those responsible for the looting of military installations under the Army Act and the Official Secrets Act.
The current civil-military government stated that May 9 would be marked as a nationwide “Black Day” while the crackdown against PTI leaders and workers intensified.
It looks like the circumstances before the elections in 2018, when PML-N leaders like Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz were locked up in an effort to shatter the spirits of the PTI leaders who were running for office.
