Exodus won’t affect PTI vote bank: Asad

Former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) secretary general Asad Umar on Monday said that the vote bank belonged to party Chairman Imran Khan, therefore, it did not matter whether someone stayed in the party or not.

Speaking to media persons at the Islamabad High Court (IHC), Umar said that some people “quit whenever the party lands in hot waters”. “Where did the [Pakistan] Peoples Party leadership go when [late Zulfikar Ali] Bhutto had a hard time? There was no one left in the PPP,” he said.

“When the Muslim League-Q [the party led by the Chaudhrys of Gujrat] formed the government in 2002, all the members of the Muslim League-N were in it,” Umar told reporters.

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When asked about going to Lahore and meeting with Imran, Umar – who resigned as the PTI secretary general earlier this month – replied that it was possible to meet him. However, he just smiled when asked what would be his future plan of action.

He was told that all the leaders who quit the PTI had the same script while doing news conferences or issuing video messages. He said that they could not say that about him. “My news conference was different, I am [still] in the party (PTI).”

Umar, who served as the finance minister and then planning minister in Imran’s government, said that meetings and TV programmes should not decide which politician did the right thing or wrong.

He also opposed targeting political opponents for revenge, adding that whoever broke the law must be punished. To another question, he said that 250 million people were facing great difficulties.