Jumping Ship: PML-N MPA from Sialkot joins PTI

SIALKOT: Pakistan Muslim League-N MPA Imran Ashraf has joined Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf over differences with the PML-N leadership. Speaking at a press conference in Sialkot on Wednesday, Ashraf said the party leaders had been ignoring him for five years despite his sacrifices for the people of the constituency (PP-123). He said he was not informed about Punjab chief minister’s day-long visit to Sialkot on March 6. Exporter-turned-politician Imran Ashraf has been elected an MPA from the constituency on a PML-N ticket in 2002 and 2008. The former MPA accused MNA Khawaja Asif of blocking the development funds allocated for his constituency. Tariq Mehmood, a spokesman for Khawaja Asif, however denied the allegations. Ashraf said PTI chief Imran Khan had accepted his invitation to visit Sialkot on March 17. PTI Sialkot general secretary Khawaja Arif Ahmed has welcomed Ashraf’s decision.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2013.