Pakistan’s former human rights minister has become the most high profile figure to quit Imran Khan’s party amid an exodus of his senior leadership, as the discord between the firebrand opposition leader and the country’s powerful military establishment deepens.
Shireen Mazari, who had been detained multiple times over the past few weeks, said she was leaving the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party and politics entirely, citing health and family reasons.
It’s the latest blow to the party, which has seen more than a dozen leaders depart after the military warned of stern action against protesters who attacked its properties following Khan’s arrest on May 9. The army and the government have vowed to try those responsible under military law, in an escalation of the showdown with Khan.
“Only the army has the power to pressure Khan’s associates to defect from PTI,” said Kamran Bokhari, Senior Director at the New Lines Institute for Strategy & Policy. “The ongoing crackdown on Khan’s movement is a short-term victory for the military establishment.”
The departures began last week with Mahmood Baqi Moulvi, who resigned from the party and his National Assembly seat, in protest against the violence. Many more have followed since, including national and local lawmakers, despite Khan’s denials his supporters were involved in the attacks. Soon after Mazari’s exit on Tuesday evening, Fayaz-ul-Hasan Chohan and Mian Jalil Sharaqpuri, two senior provincial leaders also quit.
The South Asian nation is grappling with a deepening political and economic crisis and is on the brink of a default, with an agreement with the International Monetary Fund on a $6.7 billion bailout still not in sight.
“For now, the military leadership seems to have won a key battle in what will be a long war with Khan and the broader struggle to maintain its dominant position in a republic that is becoming increasingly fragile,” said Bokhari.
--With assistance from Abhay Singh.
(Updates with quotes in paragraph four and seven)
