Usman Dar, a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) youth leader and aide to former prime minister and party chairman Imran Khan, reappeared after being 'missing' for five months and broke his silence on the incidents of May 9 and the role of his party while also clearing his position with regards to his association with the party.
Contrary to his peers, he made these disclosures not in a hurried press conference but in a recorded television interview with Dunya Television Host Kamran Shahid on Wednesday.
In the special show, Dar announced that he was leaving the PTI and quitting politics.
Presenting a charge sheet against his party, Dar said that the objective of the incidents unfolding on May 9 was to pressure the military to force Army Chief General Asim Munir out of power.
He added that plans for May 9 were hatched in Imran Khan's Lahore residence, Zaman Park. He further said that Imran led the charge on a policy of head-on collision with the military.
Dar critically claimed that Imran gave directions to target military installations in the event he was arrested.
He explained that this was not the first time he had prevented Gen Munir's appointment as the army chief. He said that the purpose of the long march last year, which was interrupted after Imran was shot in the legs, was also to disrupt Gen Munir's appointment as army chief.
The entire plan, Dar said, was to protect Imran from being arrested and prosecuted. He added that this is why PTI followers were brainwashed and used as human shields.
However, the plan started to fall apart after the provincial governments were dissolved and two groups emerged. One group was led by Murad Saeed, Azam Swati, Hammad Azhar, and Farrukh Habib, who were convinced to pursue politics of conflict.
The other group believed in tackling things politically and included the likes of Asad Umar, Omer Ayub, Ali Muhammad Khan, Shafqat Mehmood, and Dar. The former youth leader said that they urged Imran to patch up with the military.
As a result, not all of the plans for May 9 were executed that day.
Dar said that the way state institutions were attacked, it rocked PTI's foundations. He held PTI Chairman Imran Khan responsible for the party's current situation.
"May 9 is a shameful tragedy, and no amount of condemnation is sufficient," he said.