ISLAMABAD: PTI supporters have taken exception to an online campaign advocating the return of three former leaders from Rawalpindi — who had parted ways in the wake of the May riots — into the folds of the party, saying they threw former first lady Bushra Bibi under the bus to save their skin.

These ex-PTI men are former PTI north president Sadaqat Ali Abbasi, who was MNA from Murree, ex-Punjab deputy speaker Wasiq Qayyum Abbasi, and former Punjab Food Authority chairman Umer Tanveer Butt, also a Rawalpindi MPA.

The PTI supporters said these individuals not only quit the party amid a crackdown but also recorded statements under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) in front of a magistrate implicating Imran Khan and his wife Bushra in the May 9 cases. According to a case registered in Taxila, these ex-PTI leaders said they organised protests at the behest of Imran, Bushra and other PTI leaders who were booked in the FIR based on their statements.

Local leaders say ex-Rawalpindi lawmakers implicated Bushra in May 9 cases to save themselves

PTI leader Ali Shah told Dawn that it was unfortunate that the leaders who had ditched the party were making efforts to come back while the loyalists, including women leaders, were rotting in jails in the May 9 cases. He said Sadaqat Abbasi in a televised interview and the other two, in press conferences, levelled allegations against the party leadership.

“Workers do realise that anyone can give a statement to the police because of custodial torture but they cannot digest the fact that these leaders recorded [anti-PTI] statements in front of the magistrate and did not tell the judge that they were being pressurised,” he said. Another Rawalpindi leader Iqbal Subhani questioned the commitment of Sadaqat Abbasi to the party during his stint as the head of the PTI’s north Punjab chapter. He said the ex-lawmaker set up his office at a farmhouse in Islamabad, making it difficult for the party workers to approach him.

“We cannot tolerate that they recorded statement of 164 against Bushra Bibi,” he added.

PTI’s Kahuta-based leader Khursheed Satti told Dawn that initially a campaign was started on social media to allow these leaders to re-join the PTI and then some “anchor persons during their talk shows, started saying that the party should consider them”. “We, the workers, feel that those who deceived the party should not be welcomed again. We suggest that if any leader, who had quit the party, wants to join the PTI he should be asked to join the party as an ordinary member and not be given any portfolio or ticket for at least 10 years…,” he suggested.

PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan told Dawn that Imran Khan would decide the future of the ‘deserters’ and the issue would only be discussed after his release from Adiala Jail.

“Imran Khan will decide about the future of those who left the party. I am aware that some [former] leaders have been running campaigns on social media as they are worthless without Imran Khan. The PTI will never support them,” he said.

While replying to a question, Mr Hasan said that founding chairman Imran Khan had given clear instruction that ‘deserters’ would not be allowed to join the PTI again.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2024