Defence Minister Kha­­waja Asif on Monday accused Ali Amin Ganda­pur of “playing a double game”, claiming that his party had also reached a similar conclusion.

Speaking to Geo News, the PML-N stalwart said that groups of PTI supporters who had managed to reach D-Chowk during the protest had lost heart after it emerged that KP CM Gandapur had vanished from the scene.

“Neither their central leadership, nor their Punjab leadership; no secretary, no chairman — it was just a number of workers” who took part in the party’s Islamabad protest, the minister said. He also alleged that most of these people consisted of KP policemen in civilian garb.

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Mr Asif claimed that in contrast to the KP CM’s claim, he had actually spent Sunday night at Omar Ayub’s residence in Haripur, which he claimed could be accessed via a road through the Margalla Hills, which leads to Daman-i-Koh.

“Their workers, who were abusing us on social media until yesterday, are now cursing the PTI leadership,” he said, adding that after this disappointment, it would become very difficult for the party to mobilise their support base again.

On Mr Gandapur’s ‘utility’ to party founder Imran Khan, Mr Asif claimed that Mr Khan would never penalise the KP CM as the latter was the messenger between the PTI and the establishment.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2024