Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf sources have claimed that the founding chairman of the party, Imran Khan, wants the mistrust and tension between the PTI and the military establishment to end.
These sources say that Imran Khan has given permission to some leaders to work on this matter. Chairman PTI Barrister Gohar Ali Khan did not deny this when contacted. Instead, he said it was in the best interest of Pakistan, the PTI, and the military to end the atmosphere of misunderstanding, mistrust, and tension between the country’s largest political party and the military establishment.
He said that everyone knows Imran Khan’s opinion regarding the importance of the Pakistan Army for the country. The PTI Chairman has said that the tension between the PTI and the military establishment is in the interest of Pakistan and not of the PTI or the army. The sooner this tension ends, the better it will be for everyone.
Meanwhile, party sources say that some party leaders, including Barrister Gauhar, are exploring all possible options to normalize relations between the party and the military establishment. Party intellectuals are worried about PTI’s irresponsible behavior on social media, and in their background chats they agree that party social media has contributed greatly to misunderstandings and tensions between the PTI and the military establishment. What has increased more?
There is a growing desire among some PTI leaders to initiate confidence-building measures between the party and the military establishment. “We have to back down from our current position,” said a senior PTI leader.
He further said that Barrister Gauhar and some other leaders are trying to change the situation on an emergency basis which PTI and the military establishment have faced during the last two years. “We want to end the mistrust between the two,” said a source. Regarding Imran Khan’s recent message to the Army Chief to remain “neutral”, the sources clarified that Imran Khan and PTI do not want the military establishment to support them.
The source said that we want the military establishment to stay away from politics. A challenge for party leaders who want to normalize relations between the PTI and the military establishment is how to stop social media fueling the party’s fire.
It is recognized that some people sitting outside Pakistan are doing a lot of damage to both PTI and Imran Khan with their irresponsible and inflammatory social media posts.
The past two years have seen an unusual confrontation between the PTI and the military establishment. Compared to the excellent relations between the two until a few years ago, today the two are standing face to face like an enemy.