Lahore, Feb 21 (.) Fresh divisions have emerged within the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), following Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi’s announcement to form a “task force” aimed at securing the release of party’s founder and the country’s former premier Imran Khan, who has been incarcerated for nearly three years now.
On February 18, KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi announced the formation of the “Imran Khan Rehai Force” (Imran Release Force), a kind of structured “street movement”. The force aims to integrate all PTI party wings, including the Insaf Student Federation (ISF), Insaf Youth Wing, and professional wings, into a disciplined platform.
The proposal was unveiled during a gathering outside the Supreme Court of Pakistan after the Tehreek Tahaffuz Aiyeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP), a political alliance led by the PTI, abruptly ended its sit-in on the eve of Ramadan, and appeared to have caught many within the party by surprise.
PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram said he learned of the plan only when Afridi publicly announced it.
While describing it as a possible proposal from the chief minister, he indicated that it would require deliberation within party forums, noting that Afridi, who is also a member of PTI’s Political Committee, would need to explain why such a force was necessary when existing structures, including the Insaf Students Federation and PTI youth wings, were already in place.
He further questioned whether a new body was required if, as Afridi suggested, its members would be drawn from the party and its existing wings. Any such initiative, he maintained, would require formal endorsement from the Political Committee or Secretary General Salman Akram Raja.
However, Shafi Ullah Jan, an aide to the KP chief minister, taking a different view of the proposal, argued that once Afridi had publicly committed to forming the force, it would proceed regardless of further endorsement, underscoring strain within PTI as it balances street mobilisation, parliamentary strategy and internal cohesion while its founder remains incarcerated.
“When the chief minister has made an announcement, then the force will be formed,” he said, adding that the party would nevertheless be taken into confidence.
Jan remarked that since the incarcerated former prime minister had entrusted responsibility for the street movement to Afridi, as chief minister, Afridi was well within his remit to pursue initiatives he deemed necessary.
Although Jan confirmed that the issue was discussed at a Political Committee meeting on Thursday, sources indicated that members were sharply divided over the idea, particularly given the existence of a full party structure and affiliated wings.
Separately, five senior PTI leaders currently detained in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail urged the party to postpone protest activities during Ramadan and focus instead on parliamentary engagement. In a joint letter to the media, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Umar Sarfraz Cheema and Mian Mahmood Rashid called for deferring all protest movements in view of the sanctity of the holy month.
They demanded that the government cease politicising Imran Khan’s health and ensure his treatment is conducted in consultation with his sisters and personal physicians.
The jailed leaders also criticised recent remarks by President Asif Ali Zardari about the PTI founder, describing them as inappropriate for the head of state.
The letter urged the party to intensify legal efforts in court regarding Khan’s medical treatment and to ensure regular meetings between him, party office-bearers, lawyers and family members. It also called on TTAP to play a more active role in parliament, using legislative tools to challenge what it described as the government’s performance.
The imprisoned leaders proposed that PTI’s core and political committees hold detailed consultations on the political situation and take decisions by consensus — or by clear majority if consensus proves elusive — with outcomes formally documented and binding on all office-bearers. They stressed that official party policy should be communicated only by the chairman, secretary general and information secretary to maintain message discipline.
The letter also called for a comprehensive organisational revival ahead of local government elections, urging party office-bearers to reactivate grassroots structures nationwide and strengthen all party wings, highlighting national issues including rising terrorism, economic fragility, inflation, unemployment and what it described as entrenched corruption.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif criticising Afridi’s announcement, described the proposed “Release Imran Khan Force” as unconstitutional and illegal. Speaking to Geo News, he said that no authority other than the federal government could create a force, and warned that the KP chief minister’s position could be at risk.
Asif also dismissed speculation about any discussions on moving Imran Khan abroad or to Bani Gala, his Islamabad residence, suggesting that any approaches may have been aimed at securing facilities rather than relocation.
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