ISLAMABAD/LONDON: Following the distribution of party tickets for the national and provincial assembly constituencies in connection with the general elections on February 8, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is facing severe internal strife, including accusations of nepotism and financial corruption. Concerns are growing that the lawyers in charge of the party will further drive it into the ground.
At least three prominent PTI figures, who wished to remain anonymous, said that choices about ticket allocation were made by Aleema Khan and her sister, Umair Niazi, Khan’s spokesman.
They claimed that Niazi and Aleema made all significant choices and that Bushra Bibi, the former first lady who has been visiting Khan in Adiala Jail on a regular basis, was not involved in ticket distribution.
Reliable sources within the PTI have disclosed that numerous influential leaders from Punjab and KP were utterly disregarded when granting tickets to the contenders.
Senior party leaders Omar Ayub Khan, Hammad Azhar, Rai Hassan, Kanwal Shauzeb, and numerous others are among those who were disregarded and omitted.
Aleema Khan, Khan’s sister, has been visiting her brother in jail on a regular basis and has refuted the accusations made by PTI leaders against Niazi. “Umair Niazi was point person for Punjab and Gohar Ali Khan for KP, Baluchistan, and Sindh,” the source told The News.
“Umair Niazi is Imran Khan’s point person,” Aleema stated. It is his responsibility to deliver lists to Imran Khan so that he can make a decision. Additionally, as Imran Khan’s family,are able to observe several of his choices.
“Imran Khan has additionally annotated candidate listings with remarks or approval. Therefore, the individuals bringing forth these accusations are essentially contesting Imran Khan’s appointment. It doesn’t take much thought to figure out why they would do it.
Aleema stated that the two persons Khan has trusted with foreign communication are Niazi and PTI leader Gohar Khan.
We thus have faith in them as well. Nevertheless, we do ensure adherence to his instructions. We promise to defend him with our lives and prevent anyone from abusing his restricted access to the outside world.
Veteran PTI officials called it a “tragedy” that certain “opportunistic and over-ambitious lawyers” have taken over the PTI.
The division is so great that PTI’s founder has disassociated himself from the allocation of party tickets, claiming to be ignorant of it.
According to reliable PTI insiders, PTI is in danger of being dominated by aspirational attorneys who are just concerned with projecting their own image in the media.
The PTI leaders, who spoke with The News, all expressed identical complaints that the ticket distribution process was a farce and that they are currently on the run.
According to the sources, PTI Punjab President Hammad Azhar ought to have been given consideration for the Punjab tickets, but instead he was disregarded and not involved in any way.
Tens of millions of rupees were allegedly stolen from PTI candidates, according to accusations of financial corruption made by a number of PTI-affiliated social media accounts. They claim that tickets were given to powerful individuals and former MPs at the expense of devoted employees, and that merit was ignored in the name of money.
The problem is not exclusive to Punjab. One of the attorneys representing Khan, Sher Afzal Khan Marwat, claimed to have communicated to the PTI founder the worries of the workforce on the contentious distribution of the tickets. He claimed that although others were present, he discussed his complaints with Khan.
“In Punjab, a substantial number of lawyers have received PTI tickets to run in elections, but in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the majority of the party’s lawyers have been disregarded,” he stated.
The sources, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed that Asad Qaisar, Ali Mohammad Khan, Atif Khan, Shahram Tarakai, Shah Farman, and Shehryar Afridi were among the party’s most devoted leaders, but that a faction in KP led by Ali Amin Gandapur had disregarded them.
According to a person close to Gandapur, he was not informed before tickets were distributed nationally either.
According to a source, PTI leader Barrister Gohar was silent throughout the entire procedure.
“Barrister Gohar is a good-hearted yet frail individual. The original chairman has persisted in selecting inferior candidates.
Young Khyber Pakhtunkhwa PTI workers have protested against the arbitrary allocation of party tickets without regard to merit.
Before the media, Uzair Wazir and Saud Shah Roghani said that choices were being made at random, without background checks or interviewing people. They said that party passes were being offered for forty million rupees.
“These are internal party matters and will be settled,” PTI spokesperson Raoof Hassan said to The News.
“If there are any issues, they will be resolved,” stated Hassan. Any complaints will be handled in accordance with policies and guidelines.
