Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership decided that the decision taken by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to disqualify Imran Khan from party presidency over Toshakhana case will not be accepted and no one new will be nominated and appointed as party leader in his place.

The ECP has started taking actions against Khan to remove him from presiding the party over submitting false statements and declarations under the article 63-1-P of the constitution. A notice has been issued to PTI chief and hearing has been scheduled on 13th December for the case.

Keeping in view this situation, senior party leader Fawad Chaudhry was asked about who the new party chief might be, to which he replied saying that Imran Khan’s dismissal from the presidency is impossible as he was not penalized by any of the courts. He also said that letters are being written to the election commission and the issue will be further taken to the courts as well.

PTI leader Senator Ejaz Chaudhry said that any such order from the ECP will be rejected and challenged and also jokingly said that the election commission is getting these directions from Jati Umra, which is the estate of the Sharif Family and ECP’s biasness has been proven. He continued that any such proceeding will result in severe protests and will also be challenged in the court.

Speculations are rife that Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi will take supersede former PM for PTI presidency but some resources stated that Shah Mahmood Qureshi, under no circumstances will be given party leadership instead it is possible that Asad Umar or Pervez Khattak be nominated.

After the disqualification of PMLN chief, Imran Khan filed a petition in the Supreme Court against Nawaz Sharif that someone who does not sustain being “Saadiq and Amin” no longer deserves to preside a party which lead to Nawaz Sharif’s dismissal as party president in the February of 2018. Now ECP plans to follow the same criteria for Imran Khan as he has also been disqualified.

The PTI leadership stated that Nawaz Sharif was removed from the party’s leadership as he was disqualified for life over hiding the Iqama, no such cases have been filed against Imran Khan nor is he proven guilty of anything similar. Thus, treating Imran Khan as Nawaz Sharif was treated is very inappropriate.