Dozens of followers of Pakistan's Imran Khan quit his party and launch their own ahead of elections

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Pakistan's former prime minister and top opposition leader Imran Khan, dozens of his followers quit his party on Monday to launch their own ahead of parliamentary elections expected later this year. The dramatic development — described as a «political rebellion» within Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party — came two months after violent protests shook the country in early May.

Khan's followers, angered over his arrest in connection with a graft case, rioted for days, attacking public and military installations. The deadly violence subsided only after Khan was released on an order from Pakistan's Supreme Court.

In the weeks that followed, several top members of Khan's circle abandoned him, disagreeing with his campaign against the administration of his successor, current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. But in an unprecedented move Monday, 57 of Khan's party members — most of them former lawmakers and other well-known politicians — announced they were quitting the party and forming their own, called Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians.

They accused Khan of pursuing «politics of hatred and confrontation» in the May violence. Most of the dissenters come from northwestern Pakistan, a former tribal region bordering Afghanistan that had long been a stronghold and support base for Khan, much like the eastern province of Punjab and Khan's hometown of Lahore.

Among the most prominent defectors is Pervez Khattak, who served as the defense minister in Khan's government until the former cricket star turned Islamist politician and prime minister was ousted in a no-confidence in parliament in April 2022. Khattak told a gathering of former lawmakers and politicians in the northwestern city of Peshawar Monday that they will give Khan a