Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) (Urdu: پاکستان تحريک انصاف; Pakistan Movement for Justice) is a political party in Pakistan, founded in 1996 by former national cricket captain Imran Khan.
It is a Third Way, Centrist party which aims to create a welfare state, where the state is responsible for education, health and employability of citizens.[6] It promotes freedom of thought, abolition of personal income tax and dismantling religious discrimination in Pakistan.[7][8]
Directly following its founding in 1996, the party had little initial success.[9] Khan won a seat in the Pakistani general election, 2002. The party boycotted the 2008 election, but in 2013 it received over 7.5 million votes, making it second in the number of votes and third in the number of seats won. It sits in opposition to the government at national level, but governs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.[10][11]
The party terms itself an 'anti-status quo movement' advocating egalitarian Islamic democracy.[1][2][3] It claims to be the only non-family party of mainstream Pakistani politics.[12] With over 10 million members in Pakistan and abroad, it claims to be Pakistan's largest party by membership.[13][14][15] According to the 2013 election results, the PTI is Pakistan's second largest party in terms of votes, third-largest party in terms of parliamentary seats, the second-largest in Punjab and Karachi, and the largest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where it leads a coalition government.[16]
