3 more PTI’s wickets fell in a day; Maleeka Bokhari, Jamshed Cheema, Musarrat Jamshed Cheema quit party

Three more PTI wickets have fallen on May 25.

On Thursday, PTI leaders Maleeka Bokhari, Jamshed Cheema, and Musarrat Jamshed Cheema joined a long list of leaders to desert Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) following the May 9 riots.

Maleeka Bokhari announced to quit PTI hours after her release from Adiala Jail, where she was sent after being arrested under Section 4 of the Maintenance of Public Order.

Maleeka Bokhari, the former member of the National Assembly said in a press conference in Islamabad, “I condemn the events that transpired on May 9. For every Pakistani, the events that took place on May 9 are very painful.”

Announcing her “dissociation” from the party, Bokhari said she was not under duress and no one forced her into making this decision.

“As a lawyer, I want to play a positive role in Pakistan. I also want to spend time with my family,” she added.

Later in the day, addressing a press conference, the PTI leaders Jamshed Cheema and Musarat Jamshed Cheema also announced quitting the party.

Jamshed Cheema has said that he and his wife can’t continue politics and the affiliation with former prime minister Imran Khan’s party.

“This career which is in our blood … it was not an easy decision to leave politics. You serve the nation in politics, but not at the cost of armed forces … not at the cost of people who protect the country,” Jamshed Cheema said.

PTI leaders vehemently condemned the May 9 incidents and stressed that the law must take its course.

“We should accept our responsibility that mob mentality and the calculation of a peaceful protest … maybe that was not possible and mob mentality was not accounted for,” he said in a press conference alongside his wife.

“I am saying again … the training of a political worker should be such that they play the role of a responsible citizen. If the worker of a political party is not peaceful then I feel there is a problem in the narrative … and this is a problem here.

“We accept this failure and own it … another failure is that we couldn’t stop or manage it.”

The attacks on public property and state assets are highly condemnable, Jamshed Cheema said, adding that the persons involved in rioting, ransacking, and storming the state assets must face legal action.

“The failure of a system or a party can’t be allowed. In this entire situation, I and my wife are idealists … we are people who talk about democracy, freedom of speech, and writing … the element of violence that has emerged here because which the ugliness that has come forth. It is clear that we can’t continue politics or our affiliation with the party,” he added.