SWABI: Former adviser to the chief minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Abdul Karim has said despite pressure he won’t leave PTI.

Talking to Dawn in the judicial lock-up here, where he is lodged in connection with the May 9 riots, he said he had received a call to quit PTI, but refused to do so. He, however, didn’t disclose as to who had made the call.

Mr Karim was arrested from the Anti-Terrorist Court, Mardan, on July 4 after his bail-before-arrest was rejected.

He said: “I will remain in the caravan of PTI chairman Imran Khan, no matter what the consequences are.”

Sources said former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser, former MPAs Rangaiz Khan and Aqibullah Khan and Shrahram Khan Tarakai’s brother Faisal were also mentioned in the FIR lodged against the PTI leaders for blocking the Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway for eight hours following arrest of Imran Khan on May 9.

However, the sources said none of other leaders were arrested, and only Mr Karim was pushed behind the bars.

Answering a question, Mr Karim said he had refused former chief minister Pervez Khattak’s request to join his newly-established Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Parliamentarians. “I will live and die as a PTI worker.”

Meanwhile, no former parliamentarian from the district has joined PTI-P despite repeated attempts by Pervez Khattak.

Separately, a jirga in Maneri area here on Tuesday demanded of the district administration to strictly implement the ban on bathing in the Pehur High Level Canal as several youngsters had drowned in the recent past.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2023