KARACHI , May 16, 2023: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Sindh vice president on Tuesday parted ways with the party and resigned as Member of the National Assembly (MNA) from NA-245 (Karachi East-IV) as well.
He had been elected to the assembly after the death of PTI’s MNA Aamir Liaquat Hussain in February 2023 this year.
Addressing a presser, he said he did not intend joining another party, adding that he wanted to thank party chief Imran Khan for reposing his trust in him. “I shall tender my resignation to Mr Khan,” he added.
Mehmood Maulvi went on to say that Mr Khan used to call Pakistan Army the country’s backbone, adding that the country was secure and a nuclear power because of the army. “I neither went against the ‘whole’ of army nor ever will,” he added. Pakistan owed its existence, he said, to the army.
He said even India could not have vandalised the martyrs’ graveyards, adding that the attacks on them disappointed him. “It is not suitable to fight the army,” he added. He was not a part of the team, he said, that attacked security installments.
“I am not blaming Mr Khan as he is not responsible for everything”, he said, adding that whoever advised so was PTI’s enemy. “We cannot [even] collect 25000 people for a protest in Karachi and then claim that people are with us,” he criticised.
Mr Mehmood clarified that “neither his software was updated nor anyone could do”, adding that he was speaking his heart. “Those involved in May 9 attacks [on defence installments] should be penalised,” he added.
It was a tradition in political parties that they started firing a broadside at the army when they were out of power and vice versa, he said.
Mr Mehmood continued by asking if they would import the army from India or the US [instead]. “No one is concerned about people,” he added. Sindh government should, he said, start issuing health cards. He claimed that not everyone could benefit from the free-flour scheme.
He said he had been doing a business for 40 years, adding that no one could accuse him of corruption of even one rupee. “It was disheartening to come across some PTI members asking party activists to storm the GHQ if Mr Khan was harmed,” he added. He had relinquished his Canadian citizenship, he said, for the sake of Pakistan.
Former PTI leader said it was everyone’s right to protest, adding that it must have been condemned when it all was happening. “I refused to take security after being asked the police upon the news of his resignation,” he added.
He would make a new party or a welfare organisation that would welcome people who wanted to see country prosper, he said. “My seat belongs to Mr Khan,” he added.