Fatima Bhutto, daughter of Murtaza Bhutto, on Sunday announced that she would not join Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival, she said her entry into the PTI was unlikely and would never happen. “He has an incredible cosiness not with the military but with the dictatorship,” she said about Imran Khan. Fatima also accused Imran of defending the legacy of former military ruler General (r) Zia-ul-Haq, who came to power in the late 1970s after overthrowing prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Fatima’s grandfather and the founder of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). She also mentioned Imran’s support for a 2002 referendum which allowed General (r) Pervez Musharraf to extend his term. “As a woman I worry very much about Imran’s politics,” she said while talking about the PTI chief’s opposition to amending a 2006 women’s bill in favour of rape victims. She also questioned Imran’s commitment to secularism and to defending minorities. “Is he a savior? No, I don’t think so,” she said during a Pakistan-focused session at the literary festival.
I will never join PTI, says Fatima Bhutto
