The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has announced holding intra-party elections before its 20th foundation day on April 25. Many groups have appeared in the party and it may split in the process.
Though the party leadership plays down rifts, yet at least three major groups have emerged in the party. Jehangir Khan Tareen leads the Unity Group while Shah Mahmood Qureshi heads the Nazriati Group. Besides, Hamid Khan has formed the Workers’ Alliance and Ejaz Chaudhry leads his own group. PTI Chairman Imran Khan was informed about pitfalls of intra-party elections. Serious irregularities in the last election were also in his mind. Some party leaders were against holding polls, but it is to his credit that he decided to move ahead.
According to a latest development, former Punjab governor Chaudhry Sarwar and PTI’s only National Assembly Member from Lahore, Shafqat Mahmood, will contest for the highest party office in the province. Sarwar has the support of the Unity Group, led by Jehangir Khan Tareen while Shafqat Mahmood enjoys the backing of the Nazriati Group, led by Shah Mahmood Qureshi. Tareen has announced that he would contest the election for the office of the central secretary general. According to insiders, he may have to run for another post as the party chairman and secretary general cannot be from the same province, according to the party policy. Deliberations on the selection of a candidate for the Punjab president post had been underway for several weeks. Shafqat Mahmood’s name was finalised by the Nazriati Group after Ejaz Chaudhry formally withdrew from the race for the highest office in the province. He said he would consider contesting for an office in the central organisation. Shafqat had resigned from the Lahore organiser’s office over the party’s poor performance in local government elections in Lahore.
The party plans to hold direct elections through mobile phones. If it happens, it will be the first political party in South Asia to use mobile phones for voting. It has also set up a helpline through which people can receive information in English, Urdu, Pashto and Balochi languages. Wherever there is no mobile coverage, district coordinators will assist the process. “Previously we faced serious problems in registering voters as we used multiple mediums, which complicated the process. However, now we have decided to use cell phones only for the purpose,” Imran Khan said.
According to observers, the elections have divided the PTI into two main groups. Old guards want to perpetuate their hold on key positions but newcomers, who have come from other parties, also seek a due share in the party. Some old leaders have taken it as a serious challenge and they are unwilling to accommodate the new faces. Elections will begin from Khyber Pukhtunkhwa on March 20, and then the process will be extended to other provinces. The two main camps have also been divided into several groups which are vying for top slots. Old party workers believe it is their right to head all major slots. They claim priority should be given to those who are ideological members of the party instead of obliging new entrants who have joined the PTI after having been rejected by their respective parties.
Newcomers have also formed groups in the party after which the party’s chief elections commissioner Tasneem Noorani had to issue a warning that any such attempt will cost them their basic party membership. “The Election Commission of the party has noted with concern that meetings are taking place between members in groups, to plan and prepare for the next intra-party elections and these groups are being positioned as alliances, forums etc. Meetings to prepare for elections are perfectly in order, but giving these gatherings a formal title and dividing the party into panels, are disallowed. In order to keep the next intra-party elections as harmonious as possible, all are, therefore, advised against forming groups to contest next intra-party elections and projecting them as such. This advice may be followed by disciplinary action, if not followed.”
The party’s ideological group has also formed its own committee comprising party’s senior leaders from Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh. The group claims that during the last party elections, other two groups had accommodated each other through irregularities. “The groups also accommodated each other while distributing party tickets and other positions,” a leader of the ideological group said. The group includes Abdul Qayyum Kundi, Justice (r) Wajihuddin Ahmed, Saleem Jan, former PTI Sindh president Jahangir Rehman and Walid Iqbal.
The PTI has already split into factions after election authorities registered the PTI-N or Nazriyati as a new political party. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has formally registered the PTI-N as a political party to be headed by Akhtar Iqbal Dar. Dar had applied for registration of the party in 2012 while the ECP registered it on February 17. Akbar S. Babar, one of the founding members who quit a job in the United Nations to join the PTI, says the party will see more factions in future. “Imran Khan has dumped all ideologues, who had helped him form the PTI. He deviated from the manifesto of the party, betrayed his friends, mentors and ideologues,” he claims. According to him, all founding members of the PTI including Saeedullah Niazi (cousin of Imran Khan), Syed Hussain Shah (Attock), Khwaja Imtiaz (Rawalpindi), Saad Abdullah (Peshawar) and some others had been kicked out by Imran Khan when they drew his attention towards the growing influence of industrialists in the party.
According to PTI leaders, they are contesting intra-party elections as friends. However, party elections are a tricky issue in Pakistan. The party will have to face many allegations from other political parties, which have not held elections at all. Then, voting through mobile phones will be difficult for women workers. It is feared the election will widen differences in the party. In advanced countries of the world, contesting candidates from the same party reconcile after their campaigns. However, it is difficult to imagine in Pakistan, where elections breed hatred and enmity. It is, perhaps, why other parties avoid them. Keeping his party intact after polls will be the biggest test for Imran Khan, who cherishes Western democratic values, without realizing the ground realities in Pakistan.
Though the party leadership plays down rifts, yet at least three major groups have emerged in the party. Jehangir Khan Tareen leads the Unity Group while Shah Mahmood Qureshi heads the Nazriati Group. Besides, Hamid Khan has formed the Workers’ Alliance and Ejaz Chaudhry leads his own group. PTI Chairman Imran Khan was informed about pitfalls of intra-party elections. Serious irregularities in the last election were also in his mind. Some party leaders were against holding polls, but it is to his credit that he decided to move ahead.
According to a latest development, former Punjab governor Chaudhry Sarwar and PTI’s only National Assembly Member from Lahore, Shafqat Mahmood, will contest for the highest party office in the province. Sarwar has the support of the Unity Group, led by Jehangir Khan Tareen while Shafqat Mahmood enjoys the backing of the Nazriati Group, led by Shah Mahmood Qureshi. Tareen has announced that he would contest the election for the office of the central secretary general. According to insiders, he may have to run for another post as the party chairman and secretary general cannot be from the same province, according to the party policy. Deliberations on the selection of a candidate for the Punjab president post had been underway for several weeks. Shafqat Mahmood’s name was finalised by the Nazriati Group after Ejaz Chaudhry formally withdrew from the race for the highest office in the province. He said he would consider contesting for an office in the central organisation. Shafqat had resigned from the Lahore organiser’s office over the party’s poor performance in local government elections in Lahore.
The party plans to hold direct elections through mobile phones. If it happens, it will be the first political party in South Asia to use mobile phones for voting. It has also set up a helpline through which people can receive information in English, Urdu, Pashto and Balochi languages. Wherever there is no mobile coverage, district coordinators will assist the process. “Previously we faced serious problems in registering voters as we used multiple mediums, which complicated the process. However, now we have decided to use cell phones only for the purpose,” Imran Khan said.
According to observers, the elections have divided the PTI into two main groups. Old guards want to perpetuate their hold on key positions but newcomers, who have come from other parties, also seek a due share in the party. Some old leaders have taken it as a serious challenge and they are unwilling to accommodate the new faces. Elections will begin from Khyber Pukhtunkhwa on March 20, and then the process will be extended to other provinces. The two main camps have also been divided into several groups which are vying for top slots. Old party workers believe it is their right to head all major slots. They claim priority should be given to those who are ideological members of the party instead of obliging new entrants who have joined the PTI after having been rejected by their respective parties.
Newcomers have also formed groups in the party after which the party’s chief elections commissioner Tasneem Noorani had to issue a warning that any such attempt will cost them their basic party membership. “The Election Commission of the party has noted with concern that meetings are taking place between members in groups, to plan and prepare for the next intra-party elections and these groups are being positioned as alliances, forums etc. Meetings to prepare for elections are perfectly in order, but giving these gatherings a formal title and dividing the party into panels, are disallowed. In order to keep the next intra-party elections as harmonious as possible, all are, therefore, advised against forming groups to contest next intra-party elections and projecting them as such. This advice may be followed by disciplinary action, if not followed.”
The party’s ideological group has also formed its own committee comprising party’s senior leaders from Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh. The group claims that during the last party elections, other two groups had accommodated each other through irregularities. “The groups also accommodated each other while distributing party tickets and other positions,” a leader of the ideological group said. The group includes Abdul Qayyum Kundi, Justice (r) Wajihuddin Ahmed, Saleem Jan, former PTI Sindh president Jahangir Rehman and Walid Iqbal.
The PTI has already split into factions after election authorities registered the PTI-N or Nazriyati as a new political party. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has formally registered the PTI-N as a political party to be headed by Akhtar Iqbal Dar. Dar had applied for registration of the party in 2012 while the ECP registered it on February 17. Akbar S. Babar, one of the founding members who quit a job in the United Nations to join the PTI, says the party will see more factions in future. “Imran Khan has dumped all ideologues, who had helped him form the PTI. He deviated from the manifesto of the party, betrayed his friends, mentors and ideologues,” he claims. According to him, all founding members of the PTI including Saeedullah Niazi (cousin of Imran Khan), Syed Hussain Shah (Attock), Khwaja Imtiaz (Rawalpindi), Saad Abdullah (Peshawar) and some others had been kicked out by Imran Khan when they drew his attention towards the growing influence of industrialists in the party.
According to PTI leaders, they are contesting intra-party elections as friends. However, party elections are a tricky issue in Pakistan. The party will have to face many allegations from other political parties, which have not held elections at all. Then, voting through mobile phones will be difficult for women workers. It is feared the election will widen differences in the party. In advanced countries of the world, contesting candidates from the same party reconcile after their campaigns. However, it is difficult to imagine in Pakistan, where elections breed hatred and enmity. It is, perhaps, why other parties avoid them. Keeping his party intact after polls will be the biggest test for Imran Khan, who cherishes Western democratic values, without realizing the ground realities in Pakistan.
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