PESHAWAR: Former Khy­­ber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Pervez Khattak is all set to launch his political party, sources familiar with the development said, days after the PTI terminated his membership.

Mr Khattak, a former Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader who served as the federal defence minister from 2018 to 2022, was expelled from the PTI on the charge of encouraging former lawmakers to leave the party.

Sources familiar with the development said that Mr Khattak was expected to announce the launching of his party on Saturday at a press conference, but it couldn’t take place due to the non-committal attitude of some of those who had previously agreed to join the new venture.

Mr Khattak, who won Nowshera’s NA-25 constituency in the 2018 general election, was still in consultation with his former party colleagues and was striving to put up a big show, the sources said.

They said that former PTI lawmakers and some cabinet colleagues wanted clarity and guarantees and assurances of a win in the upcoming elections and were reluctant to take political risks.

Almost all who had been in contact with Mr Khattak had shown their willingness to join the new party, but they wanted some guarantee of a certain win in the polls, the sources said, adding that some cabinet members of the previous PTI government in KP were ready to jump ship.

However, some former lawmakers wanted to form a forward bloc within the party instead of opting to side with Mr Khattak.

Mr Khattak, who had been in Aftab Sherpao’s Qaumi Watan Party for four years before joining the PTI in 2012, is widely known for putting together a group of ‘electables’. He is now keen to assemble enough numbers to stake a claim to the top slot in KP after the elections.

However, “it is easier said than done”, one source said. “Many of the former PTI MPAs and leaders in KP are willing to leave their party, but this would entirely depend on the fate of the party chairman Imran Khan. With him around, they fear they stand no chance of retaining their seats,” the source said.

The source said that the former PTI lawmakers, who wanted to go with Mr Khattak, were still confused as the political scenario for the PTI in the context of upcoming general elections was unclear because no clear decision has come about the future of PTI Chairman Imran Khan.

Mr Khattak was made the provincial president of the party after Mr Khan’s ouster in April as prime minister through a parliamentary vote of no confidence.

Earlier this year, in light of the crackdown on the PTI after May 9 violence, Mr Khattak resigned from his party position during a press conference. On June 21, the PTI served a show-cause notice on him for allegedly contacting workers and inciting them to leave the party.

The notice, issued by PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan, said: “It has come to the notice of the party leadership that you are contacting party members and inciting them to leave the party.”

Earlier this week, the PTI terminated Mr Khattak’s basic party membership after he failed to respond to the notice.

Last month, it was reported that Mr Khattak had held several meetings with former PTI lawmakers, including MPAs, MNAs and other stalwarts, and convinced them to leave the party.

A senior party leader in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa told Dawn on the condition of anonymity that the PTI chief had come to know about Mr Khattak’s overtures to party members and said that those who could not bear pressure and arrest could leave the party.

However, Mr Khan also took strong exception to Mr Khattak’s efforts to lure other members into leaving PTI, the party leader who spoke to Dawn said, adding that this was why Mr Khattak had been issued the show-cause notice.

Mr Khattak did not respond to repeated calls seeking comment.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2023