Former Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry’s resignation is the latest – and highest profile – in a string of departures from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which the civilian government on Wednesday threatened to ban.

“I have decided to take a break from politics, therefore, I have resigned from party position and parting ways from Imran Khan,” Chaudhry said in a post on Twitter.

The former information minister spent days in detention after violent protests swept the country this month after the detention of Khan on corruption charges.

Chaudhry condemned the protests by Khan’s supporters, who attacked military installations, including army headquarters, and government buildings.

Khan says the corruption allegations were fabricated and that his associates are being forced out under duress from the government and the military in a manoeuvre to dismantle his party before elections scheduled later this year.

He has been embroiled in a tussle with the military since he was removed from power last year in a parliamentary vote which he says was orchestrated by the country’s top generals. The military denies this.

Khan is Pakistan’s most popular leader according to local polls, while the military is its most powerful institution, having ruled directly or overseen governments throughout Pakistan’s 75-year history.

The face-off has raised new fears about the stability of the nuclear-armed South Asian country of 220 million people as it struggles with its worst economic crisis in decades.

Chaudhry is the second former federal minister to leave Khan. On Tuesday, former Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari announced she was leaving politics, citing health concerns, after spending 12 days in detention.

Most of the top leaders of the PTI have been taken into custody. A number of former parliamentarians and mid-tier leaders have quit the party or politics entirely over the last few days.

Another key aide, former Finance Minister Asad Umar also announced on Wednesday, hours after he was released from detention, that he was resigning from his party position of secretary general.

‘Banning PTI’

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told reporters on Wednesday that the government is considering banning the PTI for attacking the “very basis of state” and this could not be tolerated.

A ban would be likely to further enrage Khan’s supporters and exacerbate the confrontation with the military establishment.

PTI party lawyer Ali Zafar said any such step would be challenged in court. He said an entire party cannot be blamed for acts committed by individuals.

Khan, 70, became prime minister in 2018 with the tacit support of the military, though both sides denied it at the time. But he later fell out with the generals after being seen as having tried to interfere in key promotions in the security sphere.

After being removed from power last year, Khan has been campaigning for a snap general elections, rallying supporters across the country. But the prime minister who replaced him, Shahbaz Sharif, has rejected calls for a poll ahead of the due date late this year.

Khan has said the corruption charges were made up to banish him from politics.

He was detained on May 9 but was later freed on bail.

In an address on Wednesday, Khan said he would form a negotiating committee that will offer to talk with state authorities to seek a way out of the impasse.

He said if that committee was convinced the matter could be resolved by him stepping aside from politics or from not holding snap elections, he would comply.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran khan promised a lot on Kashmir and delivered little. His speech in United Nations was seen as a milestone by many. He attacked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi like no one has done before.

His statements suggested that Pakistan would take a very aggressive stance on Kashmir. Kashmiris finally saw hope in a leader who couldn’t be corrupted.

Nawaz Sharif was always blamed for preferring his own business over Pakistan and Kashmir. However after initial outburst Imran Khan seemed to be short of ideas.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan cleverly exploited Pakistani sentiments over Kashmir. He understood nothing could get him more support among Pakistanis than statements about Kashmir. That’s what he did, though it didn’t go beyond statements.

Talk of a new Muslim alliance supporting Kashmir was highlighted without actually suggesting anything concrete besides statements. So, Imran Khan went on path without knowing the road map.

Now with one year over and no progress, the government did some meaningless steps like issuing a new map, changing road signs and even composing a song.

Now to hide failures and being outsmarted by Modi it was important to create a distraction. That’s when they created the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Saudi story related to Kashmir.

It’s important to know Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) is the most pro-Iran party in Pakistan and was most vocal to oppose Pakistan’s intervention in Yemen.

Many PTI leaders are on an agenda to weaken Saudi-Pak relations. So Imran Khan created a hype about Kashmir and his foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi took a very aggressive stance, and their supporters couldn’t stop praising their tough stance on Kashmir.

Yet Qureshi suddenly came up with this statement that supported pro-India leaders in Kashmir who demanded restoration of Article-370. This goes totally against Pakistan’s stand on Kashmir that demands implementation of UN resolutions on Kashmir.

Saudi Arabia officially supports UN resolutions on Kashmir. Adel Jubeir said it explicitly in Delhi. Now Qureshi blames OIC and Saudi Arabia, and here he is climbing down on Pakistan’s historic stand on Kashmir.

He is supporting those who facilitated India’s occupation of Kashmir. This exposes his duplicity and deceit. He tried to make a scape-goat out of Saudi Arabia and OIC. If Pakistan itself is downgrading it’s stance how can we blame others?

Farjad Ahmed is an independent Political Analyst on Pakistan and Middle-eastern affairs. He tweets under @farjad99.