Imran Khan’s close aide Fawad Chaudhry quits PTI party

In another blow to ousted Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan, his close aide and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday resigned from his party which is under pressure from the government over the May 9 violence. Chaudhry’s resignation came a day after former minister for human rights Shireen Mazari quit 70-year-old Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and condemned the actions of the former prime minister’s supporters who attacked and torched sensitive defence installations across Pakistan on May 9. “My earlier statement where I unequivocally condemned 9th May incidents, I have decided to take a break from politics, therefore, I have resigned from party position and parting ways from Imran Khan,” he tweeted. Chaudhary served as the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting and the minister for science and technology during his government. He was the PTI’s senior vice president and the party spokesman. Mazari, 72, announced her resignation and retirement from active politics after she was released following her arrest for the fourth time since May 12 when she was picked from her residence by police and sent to jail in connection with the violence on May 9. She served as the minister for human rights from 2018 to 2022, under Khan’s regime.