ISLAMABAD: The decision to nominate ‘newcomer’ Barrister Gohar Ali Khan for the slot of PTI chairman in the upcoming party polls seems to have caused a rift within the former ruling party, with some leaders comparing the nomination to the appointment of Usman Buzdar as the Punjab chief minister — a move that had drawn considerable flak for Imran Khan.

In addition, a purported disagreement between Mr Khan’s sisters and his wife Bushra Bibi also came to the fore on Thursday, in the form of a leaked audio clip, wherein a voice thought to belong to the former first lady could allegedly be heard sharing her reservations about Mr Khan’s sisters with another person, thought to be her lawyer Latif Khosa.

The appointment of Gohar Khan for the top slot ignored a number of other loyalists, such as Ali Muhammad Khan, Senator Humayun Mohmand, and Advocate Hamid Khan, said an insider.

A PTI leader told Dawn on the condition of anonymity that the decision to appoint Barrister Gohar Khan, who is an associate of PPP leader Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, was not a wise move due to his proximity to the PPP stalwart.

Gohar’s nomination as ‘caretaker chairman’ irks loyalists; leaked clip sheds light on differences between Imran’s wife and sisters

“Unfortunately, Imran Khan has again done an experiment, just like Usman Buzdar, who left him when his difficult time started. The position of the party chairman is very sensitive and it could be used against the party,” he feared.

The PTI leader also confirmed what many termed to be a rift between Mr Khan’s sisters and his wife. He claimed that during her hearing at the jail, Bushra Bibi was heckled by a group of men and on the next day, a similar treatment was meted out to the sisters of the PTI chairman.

“We strongly believe that the ladies were behind those slogans,” he alleged, without sharing any proof.

Another leaked clip

However, the claims made by the PTI leader about the intra-family rift seemed to gain credence in light of an alleged audio leak, which surfaced on social media on Thursday. In the purported clip, a voice believed to be of Bushra Bibi tells her lawyer that Imran’s sisters were not happy with her for hiring him.

In what many see as a tacit confirmation of the contents of the purported audio, Mr Khosa said that those who leaked an audio conversation between a lawyer and his client should be ashamed.

He said that Justice Babar Sattar has already ordered to find out that who was behind the leaked audios.

As per the clip, Bushra Bibi supposedly told her sisters-in-law that she will hand all cases, which were being delayed, to Mr Khosa. She also purportedly said that Mr Khan’s sister had claimed that Mr Khosa misbehaved with her.

The voice believed to belong to the former first lady also shared that Imran’s sisters were also not happy with her statement in which she expressed apprehension that the PTI chairman could be poisoned in jail.

During the conversation, Latif Khosa said he did not misbehave with the sisters and only told them that they should let him fight the case without interference.

PTI makes trust deed public

At a press conference, lawyer Intezar Hussain Panjutha claimed that the PTI chairman had no role in the Al-Qadir Trust case, and that was why he asked him to make the Al-Qadir Trust deed public.

The PTI chairman’s counsel said that the documents were being brought to the media to place the “actual facts in front of the nation regarding the false case made against him”.

He stated that the Al-Qadir University Pro­ject Trust was not set up for personal gains. He said all the decisions about the trust were being taken by its board of trustees.

The PTI lawyer went on to say that the Al-Qadir Trust was also being governed in the style of Shaukat Khanum Hospital and Numl University with no interference from Imran Khan.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2023