Screengrab of the IPP’s press conference
Former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Khan Tareen on Thursday formally launched his long-rumored political party, the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party, stressing that it will work to lift the country out of its prevailing crises.
“We are laying a foundation of a new political party—Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party,” he announced at a press conference in Lahore alongside several other former PTI leaders, including Aleem Khan, Imran Ismail, Amir Kiyani, and others. Stressing that he had joined politics to play his role for the betterment of the country, Tareen said the new party would work to “lift the country out of this quagmire.”
Maintaining that the country needed a political leadership that could resolve all prevailing issues, including social and economic crisis, he said everyone on stage had worked “day and night” to strengthen the PTI and regretted the events of May 9. “The facts about our contributions to the PTI will be disclosed in the coming days,” he said, adding that if the culprits responsible for the May 9 riots were not brought to justice, it would not be long before political workers start attacking the houses of rivals.
Lamenting that the people had lost all hope in the current political system, Tareen said it need a new direction. Urging both the government and opposition to adhere to their constitutional roles to strengthen democracy, he claimed that the IPP would reveal its “reform agenda” in the coming days. More people—presumably PTI deserters—would also join it, he added.
Meanwhile, Aleem said all Pakistanis were worried about the current situation of the country. “We were concerned about the situation so we decided to form a separate party,” he said, thanking Tareen for uniting all the former PTI leaders on a single platform. “We believe that the solution to Pakistan’s problems is to make the country stable,” he said, emphasizing that the chaos of the past year had weakened the country and needed to come to a halt.
“We need to make a stable Pakistan in which Parliament, judiciary and establishment are on the same page,” he said. “We will contribute to this struggle together under the leadership of Jahangir Tareen,” he added.
Both Aleem and Tareen refused to take any questions from the press, saying they would respond to all queries at a later press conference.