Jahangir Khan Tareen, who once used to be a close aide of the PTI chief, has launched a new party, the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party.
He made the announcement during a press conference in Lahore on Thursday.
Seen alongside him were Aleem Khan and several PTI defectors, including Imran Ismail and Tanveer Ilyas, who recently left the party amid a state crackdown on it.
Tareen said on the occasion that the country was witnessing “delicate times”.
Elaborating on the need to form a new party, he said he had joined politics for just one purpose — to contribute to the country’s progress.
“During my long journey in politics, I got the opportunity to meet and work with several people. I learned a lot from this experience,” he said, adding that he was never a “traditional politician”.
He said he had joined the PTI as he was certain that through the party’s platform, “we will be able to implement all those reforms that Pakistan needed and still need”.
“And for this reason, we worked day and night to make the PTI a full-fledged political force. People you see sitting here today, all of them were a part of this struggle,” he added. “We infused the party with newfound passion and enthusiasm after the 2013 elections.”
Tareen said “several facts” would surface in coming days which would show “to what extent we went to make the party stable”.