Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) 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. The PTI ranks among the three major Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML–N) and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

Despite Khan's popular persona in Pakistan, the PTI had limited initial success: it failed to win, as a collective, a single seat in the 1997 general election and the 2002 general election; only Khan himself was able to win a seat. 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 Tabdeeli Arahi Hai (lit. 'change is coming'), 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. Following the 2024 election, PTI's successful candidates joined Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) at Khan's behest and, as SIC, govern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at provincial level and serve as the largest opposition party in Punjab.

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–status quo 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 and the PTI were later praised for leading the country's economic recovery in the pandemic's 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 PTI. Imran Khan nominated him for the position of the new chairman of PTI.