Multan: Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) central leader and veteran
politician Javed Hashmi, MNA, Saturday announced joining Pakistan
Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI), ending his long association with PML-N.
PML-N leaders made efforts to keep Hashmi away from PTI but their efforts proved to be a futile exercise.
PML-N
Senator Pervez Rashid said that PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif was scheduled
to proceed to Multan to met Hashmi at 11 a.m. on Saturday but some
‘hidden hands’ frustrated the meeting.
Before leaving for Multan
airport for his onward journey to Karachi, a group of PML-N workers
blocked the road outside Hashmi house to prevent him reaching the
airport.
The PML-N supporters were chanting slogans and expressed their solidarity with the party and the senior leader.
However,
Hashmi was successful in reaching the airport to catch his flight for
Karachi where PTI chief Imran Khan received him at the Jinnah
International Terminal.
Hashmi told the media at Multan airport
that his decision to join the PTI was not a part of any deal. He added
he joined the PTI because of similarity of thoughts, adding that he had
been monitoring the situation for one year.
Hashmi said the doors of his place would always be opened for the party workers of the PML-N.
‘I
am joining ranks with Imran Khan, Hashmi said adding he made this
decision after consultation with his close aides and the majority
supported him going with the PTI.
He said the decision was made
for the larger national interests nor for any high office, adding he had
and will keep on having “close relations with Mian Nawaz Sharif, who
urged me to stay with him in the PML-N.”
‘I never demanded to be given any office; nor do I accept any office if offered to me,’ Hashmi remarked.
It
should be mentioned here that Jawed Hashmi has been openly criticizing
the policies of PML-N, which tried to calm him down by appointing him as
the party’s Senior Vice President.
Despite being put on high ‘honorary pedestal’, Hashmi continued his support for a separate province in southern Punjab.
Furthermore,
he participated in a sit-in with Imran Khan to halt NATO supplies. He
said he did not has personal differences with Shah Mehmood Qureshi who
had recently joined PTI. Online
