Imran Khan's lawyer elected as PTI's new chief ahead of Pakistan election

Pakistan’s jailed ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan has nominated one of his lawyers to be the chief of his party ahead of the general elections slated for next year. Barrister Gohar Ali Khan has been elected as the chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and will now be allowed to take part in the national elections instead of Khan who has been barred from contesting.

The Election Commission of Pakistan had directed PTI to hold the party poll for a new chairman if it wanted to participate in the election on February 8 and retain its bat election symbol.

The PTI will run against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the elections. However, Barrister Khan would not be necessarily chosen as the country’s prime minister should the party win.

Another of Khan’s lawyers, barrister Ali Zafar, said that choosing Gohar Ali Khan as the replacement was just a babysitting arrangement for the party.

The 71-year-old former cricket star has been embroiled in a tangle of political and legal battles since he was ousted as prime minister in April 2022. He has not been seen in public since he was jailed for three years in August for unlawfully selling state gifts while in office from 2018 to 2022.

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He is also on trial in an official secrets case along with his party’s vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi. Khan has denied all the charges against him, as has Qureshi, a former foreign minister.

With inputs from Reuters