ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf senior leader Asad Umar has said that party chief and former prime minister Iman Khan will not go back to the National Assembly and take oath after an astounding victory in by-elections.
Imran Khan won six National Assembly seats out of eight seats up for grabs.
Asad Umar said that the by-election results were a referendum and the power-that-be must read the writing on the wall.
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The PTI leader made the comments after the unofficial results of the Sunday’s by-elections revealed that the party has retained five National Assembly seats and won two more Punjab Assembly seats by defeating the Pakistan Muslim League-N which always considered Punjab its undefeatable castle.
The by-elections had taken on “plebiscitary” characteristics for the PTI in particular since it considered its triumph as a possible stepping stone to success in the next general election and a message to those wanted to prevent Imran Khan from regaining power.
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Imran Khan was the PTI’s lone contender for seven out of eight NA seats and won six seats— NA-22 Mardan-III, NA-24 Charsadda-II, NA-31 Peshawar-V, NA-108 Faisalabad-VIII, NA-118 Nankana Sahib-II, NA-239 Korangi, Karachi-I— and lost two NA 157 Multan-IV (where PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s daughter Mehr Bano was the candidate against PPP’s Musa Gilani, who won the seat) and NA-237 Malir-II, where PPP’s Abdul Hakeem Baloch defeated Imran Khan.
The PTI consistently maintained that the former prime minister was ousted from power through conspiracy with the alleged collusion of the PDM, which vehemently denies the charges.
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Umar Imran Khan has directed all workers to observe “Youm-e-Tashakur” (Thanksgiving Day). He went on to say that the results of the by-polls should serve as a wake-up call for the “decision-makers” who, he said, made a “mistake”.
“After handing over to the “incompetent mafia” for the previous six months, the results of the by-elections also reflected the anger of the people, who had rejected the coalition administration,” he said while referring to the PDM.
“The people have realized that Pakistan has come to a critical crossroads, and they now have two choices: join the fight of the foreign powers, or act in the best interests of their country.”
