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The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government has claimed 'divisions' within Imran Khan-founded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, by providing screenshots of some purported messages between PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan and Aleema Khan, sister of the incarcerated former premier, Dawn reported.
The screenshots, apparently taken from Hasan's phone, have a date stamp of June 2023 and refer to a conversation between the jailer and the former prime minister. Notably, Imran Khan was taken into custody in August 2023. In light of these leaked messages, federal and Punjab information ministers, Attaullah Tarar and Azma Bukhari, claimed that there were two groups in the PTI -- one led by Aleema and another by Bushra Bibi. According to the ministers, both groups are trying their best to take control of the PTI in Khan's absence. Citing the "leaked WhatsApp conversation" purportedly between Aleema Khan and Hasan in which the former is complaining that Bushra Bibi is "misleading the party on certain matters," Pak Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that the PTI was facing internal divisions. "Aleema Khan had informed Raoof Hassan that Bushra Bibi was spreading false news (about the health of Imran Khan)," he said, alleging that both Aleema and Bushra groups were fighting over the party. "PTI, which always indulges in propaganda against state institutions, is now facing disintegration and chaos within its ranks. Imran Khan did the politics of divisiveness and divided the nation," he said, adding that the PTI itself had been divided into various factions. "Various disinformation cells within the party have been active: one run by Raoof Hasan in collaboration with Aleema Khan and the other by Bushra Bibi," the minister claimed. He claimed that Bushra Bibi was trying to spread a false narrative about Imran Khan to gain public sympathy. Notably, after Raoof Hasan's arrest over "anti-state propaganda" last month, this is the second time his WhatsApp conversations have been leaked. He was released from prison after getting bail but his cellphone is reportedly in the possession of law enforcement agencies, as reported by Dawn. Meanwhile, Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari stated that after the religion and treason cards, PTI was now playing the "victim card." "Imran Khan, in his attempts to get out of jail, sometimes seeks forgiveness from the army and sometimes appeals to the British prime minister. He is now trying to gain public sympathy by portraying himself as a victim," she said. According to the Punjab minister, the differences between Aleema Khan and Bushra Bibi had become a topic of discussion in the WhatsApp groups of the PTI, Dawn reported. "A power struggle is ongoing between both women to control the PTI," she claimed. (ANI)
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