PTI's Salman Akram Raja retracts resignation on party orders

• "Yes, he has withdrawn his resignation, as party didn't accept it": Waqas
• PTI info secretary says Salman met families of party's "martyrs".
• Salman Akram tendered resignation following abrubt end of PTI protest.
  

Salman Akram Raja has retracted his resignation as the secretary-general of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in adherence to the party's directive.

“Yes, he [Raja] has withdrawn his resignation, as the party did not accept it and asked him to continue,” confirmed PTI Information-Secretary Waqas Akram when approached by The News. 

Waqas further elaborated that Raja had recently visited and participated in a meeting of the party’s political committee.

Raja had initially stepped down from his position after facing criticism from some party members for failing to travel from Lahore to Islamabad to join a protest alongside a convoy of demonstrators. 

Before that, he had issued a video message day addressing the objections raised against him, a day after the eventful November 27 retreat of the PTI leadership and workers from the federal capital during the much-hyped "do-or-die" protest. 

He also explained that the government's strict security measures, including roadblocks and bridge closures, had made it impossible for him to reach Islamabad to participate in the protest.

In his statement, the PTI secretary-general made it clear that he did not believe in theatrics or symbolic gestures like reaching D-Chowk merely for photo opportunities. 

“It is not appropriate for me to act in such a manner,” he remarked. “I will always be honest with you, explaining both what I am capable of doing and what I am not,” he added.

Besides Salman, Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza had also resigned from a key position in the PTI. 

The resignations came after the abrupt end to the PTI's protest in Islamabad following a crackdown by the law enforcers, which saw nearly 1,000 arrests in the wee hours of last Wednesday.