Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is a political party in Pakistan established in 1996 by cricketer and politician Imran Khan, who served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The party is led by Gohar Ali Khan since late 2023. It ranks among the three major Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz and the Pakistan People's Party.
PTI failed to win a single seat in the 1997 general election and won only one seat in the 2002 general election, which was secured by Khan himself. From 1999 to 2007, the PTI supported the presidency of General Pervez Musharraf. It later rose in opposition to Musharraf in 2007 and also boycotted the 2008 general election, accusing it of having been conducted with fraudulent procedures under Musharraf's rule. The global popularity of the "Third Way" during the Musharraf era led to the rise of a new Pakistani political bloc focused on centrism, deviating from the traditional dominance of the centre-left PPP and the centre-right PML–N. When the PML–Q began to decline in the aftermath of Musharraf's presidency, much of its centrist voter bank was lost to the PTI. Around the same time, the PPP's popularity began to decrease after the disqualification of Yusuf Raza Gillani in 2012. With a claimed membership of over 10 million in Pakistan in 2012, the PTI appealed to many former PPP voters, particularly in the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, due to its outlook on populism.
In the 2013 general election, the PTI emerged as a major party with over 7.5 million votes, ranking second by number of votes and third by number of seats won. At the provincial level, it was voted to power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. During its time in opposition, the PTI, with the help of popular slogans such as , mobilized people in rallies over public distress on various national issues, the most notable of which was the 2014 Azadi march. In the 2018 general election, it received 16.9 million votes—the largest amount for any political party in Pakistan thus far. It became the largest party in terms of representation in the National Assembly of Pakistan since the 2018 general election and then formed the national government in coalition with five other parties for the first time, with Khan serving as the new Pakistani prime minister. However, in April 2022, a no-confidence motion against Khan removed him and his PTI government from office at the federal level.
Officially, the PTI has stated that its focus is on turning Pakistan into a model welfare state espousing Islamic socialism, and also on dismantling religious discrimination against Pakistani minorities. The PTI terms itself an anti– movement advocating an Islamic democracy centred on egalitarianism. It claims to be the only non-dynastic party of mainstream Pakistani politics in contrast to parties such as the PPP and PML–N. Since 2019, the party has been criticized by political opponents and analysts alike for its failures to address various economic and political issues, particularly the Pakistani economy, which was further weakened in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Khan's government was later praised for leading the country's pandemic recovery in its later stages. During its time in power, the party faced backlash over its crackdown on the Pakistani opposition as well as its regulation of increased censorship through curbs on Pakistani media outlets and freedom of speech.
The party faced a crackdown following the May 9 riots, with arrests, detention and the resignation of party leaders, while the government claimed that this action was a necessary response to the violence, vandalism, and arson allegedly carried out by PTI officeholders and supporters. On 2 December 2023, Gohar Ali Khan was elected unopposed as the Chairman of the PTI. Imran Khan nominated him for the position of the new chairman of the PTI.
History
Foundation and early years
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was founded by Imran Khan on 25 April 1996 in Lahore. PTI was conceived when Khan discussed forming a political party at the home of Dr. Nausherwan Burki, head of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital. Those involved included Pervez Hasan, a lawyer and SKMH board member; Naeemul Haq, Khan's former bank manager and close associate; Abdul Hafeez Khan, a Pakistani expatriate businessman; and Ahsan Rashid, a former oil company executive and SKMH fundraiser in Saudi Arabia. Later that day, Hamid Khan, a constitutional lawyer, was approached and joined the party. Khan cited frustration with government corruption and restrictions placed by Benazir Bhutto's government on his philanthropic activities as reasons for entering politics. Although Khan instructed that SKMH fundraising be kept separate from PTI, many founding members were donors or fundraisers for the hospital, and the party's early culture reflected its philanthropic origins. Early women members included Fauzia Kasuri, an SKMH fundraiser in the United States; Saloni Bokhari, a Lahori businesswoman and SKMH donor; and Sadiqa Sahibdad Khan, a philanthropist and Hamid Khan's sister-in-law. Before 2011, Hamid Khan was a leading intellectual influence on PTI.The party's early constitutional documents expressed commitments to social democracy, constitutionalism, political decentralisation, and the rule of law. Some critics alleged that PTI was an establishment party created by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence to bolster the state's national security narrative by legitimising jihadi groups and mainstreaming extremism.
From 1996 to 2002, PTI lacked a large activist base and meaningful internal competition. The party performed poorly in the 1997 and 2002 general elections, winning only Imran Khan's seat from Mianwali in both contests.
The Lawyers' Movement, the pro-democracy mobilisation following General Pervez Musharraf's 2007 Pakistani state of emergency, the decline of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, and disillusionment among Pakistan Peoples Party workers with Zardari's leadership contributed to an influx of workers and leaders into PTI. During this period, PTI workers, particularly students from its student wing, the Insaf Students Federation, regularly participated in Lawyers' Movement rallies while carrying PTI flags, increasing the party's public visibility. From around 2007, PTI began attracting professional politicians from both right- and left-wing parties, including some prominent leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami and a gradual inflow of student activists from its student wing, Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba, increasing its capacity to function as a catch-all party.
PTI boycotted the 2008 Pakistani general elections after Musharraf refused to step down as president. Between 2008 and 2011, former members of the PML-Q and disillusioned PPP workers in Punjab also began joining PTI. High-profile entrants included Jahangir Tareen and Aleem Khan, former ministers under Musharraf, who joined in 2011 before the October rally at Minar-e-Pakistan, followed by Shah Mehmood Qureshi in 2012 and veteran PML-N leader Javed Hashmi in 2012. Senior PTI leaders later stated that the recruitment of electables had always been party policy.
In the period leading up to the October 2011 rally, PTI operated largely as a bottom-up movement driven by activists and new political entrants, with limited reliance on traditional constituency networks. The party mobilised support through expatriate fundraising, particularly from Pakistanis in the United States and United Kingdom, online membership registration and SMS-based enrolment, and the use of digital communication platforms such as SMSALL.PK.
These organisational strategies contributed to the success of PTI's October 2011 rally, which became a template for later PTI rallies. The rally's format and aesthetics were subsequently adopted in PTI protests after 2013.
2013 intra-party elections
Tensions between long-standing members and new entrants were already evident in 2012, leading the party to pursue intraparty elections as a means of resolving internal conflict. PTI held its first intraparty elections in March 2013, allowing members registered via SMS to vote either electronically or at local polling booths. Elections were conducted from the union council level up to the central council, with Hamid Khan serving as election commissioner and the party's lawyers' wing assisting in administration. While the elections increased factional conflict and weakened PTI’s constituency campaigns in the 2013 general elections, their longer-term impact saw former PML-Q leaders Jahangir Tareen and Aleem Khan gain influence sidelining the party's old guard.Reports by the commission headed by Tasneem Noorani and the Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed Election Tribunal confirmed manipulation of the intraparty elections. Wajihuddin Ahmed recommended the expulsion of Tareen, Aleem Khan, Pervez Khattak, and Nadir Leghari for rigging the elections and unlawfully occupying party positions. Despite pressure from party workers, Imran Khan declined to act on these recommendations, stating at a workers' convention that political leaders, like corporate executives, must rely on their own judgement; following this, grassroots workers began leaving the party in large numbers.
Post-2013 Pakistani general election
PTI won 28 seats in the National Assembly of Pakistan in the 2013 Pakistani general election. It emerged as the single largest party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and formed the provincial government with coalition support. The PTI-led Pervez Khattak Administration presented a balanced, tax-free budget for the fiscal year 2013–14, and introduced the Sehat Sahulat health insurance programme. In November 2013, PTI Chairman Imran Khan directed Khattak to end the party's alliance with the Qaumi Watan Party due to its failure to take action against its ministers over corruption, including Bakht Baidar and Ibrar Hussain.A year after the elections, on 11 May 2014, PTI alleged that the 2013 general elections had been massively rigged. On 14 August 2014, PTI organised the Azadi March from Lahore towards Islamabad, during which the party demanded Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's resignation. Javed Hashmi left the party in September 2014 after accusing Khan of colluding with Tahir-ul-Qadri and elements of the military establishment against Sharif. In March 2015, PTI entered into an agreement with the Sharif administration to establish a judicial commission to inquire into allegations of rigging.
In August 2015, PTI chairman Imran Khan suspended Wajihuddin Ahmed's basic party membership after he publicly discussed internal party matters, amid differences over the implementation of recommendations made by the party's election tribunal on the 2013 intra-party elections. PTI election commissioner Tasneem Noorani resigned in 2016 after Khan declined to hold elections for the party's national leadership. Khan dissolved PTI's organisational structure, and party bodies at all levels were subsequently appointed by Khan and his associates rather than elected. Wajihuddin resigned from PTI in September 2016.
In June 2016, PTI suspended the basic membership of Mufti Abdul Qawi after a controversy erupted over selfies and videos he took with the model Qandeel Baloch.
Following the Panama Papers leak, PTI filed a petition in the Supreme Court in late 2016, seeking an investigation into corruption allegations against the Sharif family. The court disqualified Sharif from holding public office, after which he resigned as prime minister.
In July 2017, Naz Baloch left PTI for the PPP, citing the marginalisation of women and youth. In August 2017, PTI Member of the National Assembly Ayesha Gulalai accused Khan and his close associates of disrespecting women and party workers.