PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, strongly rejected reports that PTI founder Imran Khan welcomed or approved the end of the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Speaking to the media in Rawalpindi, Gohar called the assertion “completely false” and added: “Khan sahib never used any such words.”
The reports followed Barrister Salman Safdar’s meeting with Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi at Adiala Jail on Monday, 2 November 2026. The meeting lasted about 40 minutes — the first since April — and covered health, living conditions and legal matters. Gohar said Safdar told him Imran was aware of the emergency and governor’s rule in KP, but little political discussion took place, and Safdar brought no major political message from jail.
ARY News, citing sources, had claimed Imran described the KP government as “a burden” and said the person who ended it “did me a favour”. Gohar’s remarks were the on-record response to that sources-based claim. The claim itself has not been confirmed on the record, and this article does not present it as Imran’s confirmed words.
Gohar also said there is no forward bloc in KP — all PTI lawmakers remain with Imran — and any decision on the KP chief minister will be taken by Imran himself. He linked meeting restrictions to political tension, saying regular meetings could have prevented the emergency and governor’s rule.
The background to the dispute is the federal government’s imposition of emergency (Constitution Article 232) and governor’s rule (Article 234) in KP on 11 October 2026, ending the PTI provincial government (initially for six months), citing the provincial government’s “deliberate disengagement” from the fight against terrorism. Former KP chief minister Sohail Afridi and the provincial assembly speaker have not been seen since; on 3 November the Peshawar High Court referred petitions challenging their detention to the Chief Justice for a larger bench.
Sources: Geo News, Dawn, Pakistan Today, Daily Pakistan, Khabr (all 3 November 2026).
Note: The image above is an AI-generated illustration related to this story, not a photograph of the events described.