ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s top aides left for the eastern city of Lahore from the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province and other parts to discuss the party’s political strategy and shape its protest movement against the government.

The development comes days after PTI provincial lawmakers protested in the Punjab Assembly during Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s speech on June 27, wherein she highlighted her government’s achievements and budget priorities, prompting the speaker to suspend 26 PTI members of the provincial assembly (MPAs) for 15 sessions.

However, members of the PTI, which plans to launch an anti-government protest movement later this month, maintained on their way to Lahore that the objective of their gathering in the eastern city was to express solidarity with the party’s suspended lawmakers, shape their future strategy and discuss matters relating to their upcoming movement.

“We have to take this [movement] up to the maximum till August 5 and for that, this is our first meeting being held in Lahore,” Ali Amin Gandapur, the KP chief minister and a top Khan aide, told reporters in Jhelum.

Gandapur didn’t offer further details and said their future course of action will be shared in due course.

Gohar Khan, another senior PTI member, said they had informed the Punjab government about their meeting in Lahore through a formal letter.

“We will go there today, and tomorrow brief discussion will take place there. But this is not a rally, we are going for a meeting,” he said. “Our 26 parliamentarians, MPAs, have been suspended... and we have summoned a parliamentary party meeting over there to finalize a future strategy.”

The PTI last week announced it would launch a nationwide protest movement against the government after the Islamic month of Muharram, days after Pakistan’s top court denied the party reserved parliamentary seats for minorities and women.

The party has frequently held protests in recent years, demanding a probe into Feb. 2024 election results and the release of Khan, who has been jailed for nearly two years. Pakistani authorities deny the allegations and accuse the ex-premier and his party of leading violent anti-government protests in the past, particularly in May 2023 and Nov. 2024.

The PTI announced the latest round of protests after the Supreme Court’s constitutional bench on June 27 ruled that the party was not entitled to reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies, upholding an earlier verdict by the Peshawar High Court. The dispute arose after the PTI lost its electoral symbol ahead of the February 8, 2024 national polls and its candidates contested as independents.

Despite PTI-backed candidates winning the most general seats, the party was denied reserved seats for women and minorities, which are allocated to political parties based on proportional representation, by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).