Daily Times

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader and former aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan became the latest leader to part ways with the party over May 9 violent protests, saying he “strongly condemned the policy of confrontation with the state institutions”.

In a video statement on Thursday, the ex-federal minister also demanded punishment for rioters who attacked defence and public installations across the country following PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s arrest in the Al-Qadir trust case last month.

“Pakistan’s forces have rendered sacrifices for the survival and protection of the country,” he said, adding that attacks on martyrs’ monuments, the General Headquarters (GHQ) and other sensitive installations were tantamount to anti-state acts.

Referring to the attacks on the GHQ and Lahoore’s Jinnah House, the minister said the protesters attacked the “heart of Pakistan”. “I condemn all those unholy actions… all those involved in such crimes should be given exemplary punishment,” he added. Moreover, Sarwar also hit out at his party saying that he strongly condemned the policy of confrontation with the institutions.

“I disagreed with the confrontational policy at every forum of the party. We should not fight with institutions,” he remarked. Adding another one in the basket, Humayun Akhtar on Thursday announced quitting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

In a Twitter post, Humayun Akhtar said that since the creation of Pakistan, his family has had an eternal connection with the Pakistan Army. “We are proud of Pakistan Army and always will be”.

The former PTI leader expressed that the nation will never forget the blood and sacrifices of its martyrs. He wrote that the Pakistani nation has always respected the armed forces immensely while iterating that the damage done to the memorials of the martyrs was a cause of great sorrow for him as a child of a martyr.