ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday appointed Chaudhary Parvez Elahi as president of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in culmination of a series of political developments in which the latter sided with the PTI chief.
Elahi, who was previously among the top Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leaders, remained Khan’s coalition partner in the province since the last elections. The former prime minister nominated him as Punjab chief minister after being driven out of power at the center in a parliamentary no-confidence vote last April.
Khan also started agitating for snap polls in the country after the fall of his administration and ultimately announced to dissolve the legislative bodies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, where his party was in a power, to build pressure on the government to hold national elections.
Elahi complied with his instructions by sending a summary to the governor, seeking the dissolution of the assembly.
“Ch Pervez Illahi is hereby, designated as President Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf,” Khan wrote in a brief notification issued on his party’s letterhead which he signed in his capacity as the PTI chairman.
Prior to that, Elahi formally joined the party on February 21.
The party senior vice president Chaudhary Fawad Hussain made the announcement while praising the former Punjab chief minister for remaining loyal to Khan “through thick and thin.”
Hussain also told journalists that Elahi would be appointed as PTI president, adding the decision had been made and approved by the senior party leadership.
Former Punjab chief minister Parvez Elahi appointed as ex-PM Khan’s party president
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Former Punjab chief minister Parvez Elahi appointed as ex-PM Khan’s party president
- Elahi remained Khan’s coalition partner in Punjab and dissolved the provincial assembly
- He joined the PTI last month and was praised for his loyalty toward the former premier
Security forces kill four militants in Pakistan’s volatile southwest, military says
- Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by land area bordering Iran and Afghanistan, has long been the site of a low-level insurgency
- The Balochistan government has recently established a threat assessment center to strengthen early warning, prevent ‘terrorism’ incidents
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces gunned down four militants in an intelligence-based operation in the southwestern Balochistan province, the military said on Tuesday.
The operation was conducted in Balochistan’s Kalat district on reports about the presence of militants, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military’s media wing.
The “Indian-sponsored militants” were killed in an exchange of fire during the operation, while weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the deceased, who remained actively involved in numerous militant activities.
“Sanitization operations are being conducted to eliminate any other Indian-sponsored terrorist found in the area,” the ISPR said in a statement.
There was no immediate response from New Delhi to the statement.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by land area bordering Iran and Afghanistan, has long been the site of a low-level insurgency involving Baloch separatist groups, including the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF).
Pakistan accuses India of supporting these separatist militant groups and describes them as “Fitna Al-Hindustan.” New Delhi denies the allegation.
The government in Balochistan has also established a state-of-the-art threat assessment center to strengthen early warning and prevention against “terrorism” incidents, a senior official said this week.
“Information that was once scattered is now shared and acted upon in time, allowing the state to move from reacting after incidents to preventing them before they occur,” Balochistan Additional Chief Secretary Hamza Shafqaat wrote on X.
The development follows a steep rise in militancy-related deaths in Pakistan in 2025. According to statistics released by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) last month, combat-related deaths in 2025 rose 73 percent to 3,387.
These included 2,115 militants, 664 security forces personnel, 580 civilians and 28 members of pro-government peace committees, the think tank said.
