Imran Khan fears PTI leadership ‘compromised’

Former Special Assistant to the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and a close ally of Bushra Bibi, Mashal Yousafzai, has given an exclusive interview to The Guardian on December 2 in which she claimed that Imran Khan only trusts his wife, fearing his party leadership is “compromised.”

On November 29, Yousafzai was removed as the Special Assistant on Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur’s orders for giving an interview on Geo News programme Naya Pakistan.

After her removal as the CM’s Special Assistant, Yousafzai spilled the beans in her interview with The Guardian, saying, “Khan has been very frustrated in prison as he feels his instructions are not reaching the grassroots and instead they are being blocked or manipulated by senior leadership in the party.”

“So Khan has told Bibi she needs to be his direct messenger. She doesn’t have any political experience so he has given her precise instructions, from A to Z, on everything that needs to be done with the party workers and the leadership, to demand his release from jail. It’s all very clear cut.”

Yousafzai also claimed that Khan fears his own senior leadership in the party has been “compromised” and is working against him while he sits powerless behind bars.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has been in disarray since its failed march to Islamabad on November 24 following Imran Khan’s “final call” and a “do or die situation.”

The protests turned violent following the government’s crackdown on protestors on November 26, with PTI alleging a “massacre” undertaken by the government against civilians while the government completely denied the claim. Officially, PTI has admitted to 12 deaths. 

Bushra Bibi has suddenly taken a central role, reportedly much to the ire of party leadership after being released from prison on bail in October.

Meanwhile, senior PTI leader Qasim Khan Suri, who is currently abroad in self-imposed exile, posted on X (formerly Twitter) on November 29 that Imran Khan had been “sprayed with a poisonous substance that is affecting his mental health.”

“Imran Khan has been given something that threatens to disrupt his mental balance, locked in a small room and sprayed with a poisonous substance whose smell is affecting his mind. Imran Khan’s health is bad and there are serious threats to his life,” Suri’s post stated.

Furthermore, in another post, Suri claimed, “Imran Khan is not in jail, he has been locked in a very small cell at GHQ for the past 3 days, around which 150 to 200 soldiers are guarding. A wall has been built in front of the cell. But they put on black cloth and take off the cloth at night. They are under the worst torture. Resources.”

However, the Secretary General of PTI Salman Akram Raja has said that the “talk of spraying or poisoning Imran Khan is wrong and fabricated. Imran Khan did not talk about putting a cloth over his face and taking him to GHQ. He remained in Adiala. There is a demand that a judicial commission inquiry should be held into what happened on November 24.”

While talking to ARY News, Raja stated that Khan was "healthy and exercising.” Raja also remarked that PTI has confirmed the deaths of twelve protestors while he believes that “the data of 10 more dead people will be found.”

PTI chairman Barrister Gohar, while talking to the media on Monday, also dismissed the rumours about Khan’s health saying, “Imran Khan is excellent physically. He reposed his trust in the entire leadership of PTI.”