Pakistan: Prominent Hindu leader quits Imran Khan’s PTI

On May 19, 2023, Jai Parkash, a prominent Hindu leader and a minority member of Imran Khans Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI), submitted his resignation, making him the latest politician to quit the party following the attack on the country’s military installations and government buildings on May 9, 2023.
Addressing the media on May 19, 2023, the minority wing president condemned the protest that occurred on May 9, 2023, in his strongest terms and said: “Pakistan exists because of the army and we exist because of Pakistan.”
“I had no intention of leaving the party till May 8, 2023” he was quoted as saying by Samaa TV adding that he was quitting without pressure.
On May 15, 2023, the former governor of Sindh, affiliated with the PTI said that Jai Parkash was abducted from his residence by “forty masked men.”
Parkash resignation comes amid a spate of regulations of senior politicians from the PTI. On May 19, 2023, the provincial minister of the PTI, Mubeen Khilji, also quit the former prime minister’s party.
At a press conference, he expressed that he was parting ways with the PTI regarding the May 9, 2023 violence. “We wanted peaceful protests,” he said. He also condemned the vandalism that took place in the aftermath of Imran Khan’s arrest.
The Pakistan Police have put the death toll in the violent clashes to 10 whereas the PTI said that it lost 40 people due to firing from the security personnel.
On May 15, 2023, the top military leaders and brass vowed to bring the arsonists, who attacked the civil and military installations to justice by trial under the relevant laws of Pakistan, including the Pakistan Army Act and Official Secrets Act. The law enforcement agencies have arrested 7000 workers of the PTI of which 4000 are from Punjab Province.
Imran Khan, the 70-year-old cricketer and Politician was ousted from power in April 2022 after he lost a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him for his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China, and Afghanistan.