LAHORE: A week after a PTI sit-in plan on Chairman Imran Khan’s call failed, the party’s Punjab President Shafqat Mehmood resigned over “health-related” issues.
The PTI Punjab leadership was chastised for failing to put up a solid power show in Islamabad, which was seen as a moral defeat for the party against the Shehbaz Sharif-led government.
According to sources, Vice-President Shah Mehmood Qureshi will oversee the Punjab chapter in the absence of the chapter’s leader.
Mehmood, a former senator during the PPP era in the mid-1990s, was elected to the National Assembly in 2013 and 2018. In 2013, he was the only PTI MNA from Lahore to secure a seat. Nonetheless, there have been questions raised about his ties to party stalwarts and office-bearers.
Following the PTI’s Azadi March, the former education minister remained hospitalized and underwent surgery on Wednesday. Finally, on June 3, he resigned from the PTI’s top organizational position in Punjab.
He stated in a statement that he was unable to continue his responsibilities due to health issues. “I am grateful to the party chairman for appointing me to this position,” he said, adding that he would continue to work once he recovered.
Taking to his Twitter handle, he wrote: “It was an honor and privilege to serve as President PTI Punjab and I thank chairman Imran Khan for the opportunity.”
“It is time for change due to my surgery and convalescence. I congratulate the new President and will serve the party in whatever capacity assigned,” he added.
