PM Imran Khan dissolves PTI’s organisational structure across Pakistan following setback in KP LG polls
ISLAMABAD, Dec 24 (SABAH): Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Friday announced that after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) suffered a huge blow in the first phase of the recently held local body elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Prime Minister Imran Khan being the Chairman of PTI has decided to dissolve its organisational structure across Pakistan.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad after a meeting of the party members, with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair, the information minister said that the PTI has decided to form a new constitutional committee to devise a strategy for the second phase of the local bodies election in KP.
Speaking about the outcome of the polls, the minister said that he has received complaints that the tickets for the recently held LG polls in the province were distributed among families of party members.
“Since party tickets were distributed on the basis of nepotism as against the principles of fairness and merit, PM Imran Khan is very upset,” said Fawad Chauhdry, adding that in the light of the situation, the party has decided to dissolve its organisational structure across Pakistan.
Providing details, Fawad said that the new committee of the PTI will have the top leadership on board and that tickets for elections will now be issued by the party under a new mechanism. Expressing confidence in his party, Fawad said that the PTI is the biggest party in KP as well as the only. “If the PTI goes down, then Pakistan’s politics will go down too”, Fawad said.
“It has also been decided that the local leadership will not award party tickets when it comes to their relatives. A special committee will be formed where the case will be forwarded and it will decide whether or not to award the ticket” he said.
He said that a separate committee had been constituted which would include himself, KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, Defence Minister Pervez Khan Khattak, Communication and Postal Services Minister, Murad Saeed National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Energy Minister Barrister Muhammad Hammad Azhar, Minister for Industries and Production Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Ahmed Khan Buzdar, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, Planning Minister Asad Umar and others.
According to the minister, the committee has been tasked with suggesting a new organisational structure for the party. He added that the KP chief minister had also been tasked with meeting the local leadership and devising a mechanism for awarding tickets.
Fawad Chaudhry said a formal report of the KP local government election results had not been presented to the prime minister because the results in village councils were still being compiled.
According to the information minister, despite the defeat in KP, the PTI was the sole national party in Pakistan as the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) were reduced to their respective provinces. He said as per the results of the local government elections, the PTI was still the largest party in KP on a village level.
On Friday the meeting was attended by Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, Governor Chaudhry Sarwar, Minister for Local Government and Community Development Mian Mahmood-ur-Rasheed, Senator Saifullah Niazi, Amir Kiyani, Federal Ministers Fawad Chaudhry, Hamamd Azhar and Shafqat Mahmood. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Federal Minister of Communication and Postal Services Murad Saeed also participated in the session.
The members reviewed the list of candidates contesting for mayor polls in Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Sahiwal, Bahawalpur, Sargodha, Gujrat and Sialkot.
Meanwhile according to a private TV channel sources, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) formulated a phase-wise strategy for the upcoming local bodies elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab and the next general elections in the country with Prime Minister Imran Khan personally monitoring ticket distribution among the aspiring candidates.
According to sources privy to the discussions during the political committee meeting headed by PM Imran Khan, the participants agreed that the strategy for elections should be in phases, and in the first phase, the political committee should be empowered.
“In the second phase, all organizational setups will be dissolved,” they said adding that the supreme committee of the PTI was also formed under a new political plan comprising of 21 members and having representation of the provinces.
“The political committee would work on the new political structure and mobilize party cadres,” they said adding that the name of the committee and its functions will be approved by the core committee of the PTI.
Detailing the composition of the PTI political committee, the sources said that it would be led by Imran Khan and would include Sardar Usman Ahmed Khan Buzdar, Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Shafqat Mahmood, Aamer Mehmood Kiani, and Senator Saifullah Sarwar Khan Niazi from Punjab.
Mahmood Khan, Pervez Khan Khattak, Asad Qaiser, and Ali Amin Khan Gandapur from KP, Asad Umar, Imran Ismail, Syed Ali Haider Zaidi from Sindh, and Qasim Khan Suri and Agha Zahoor from Balochistan would be the part of the political committee. Moreover, Fawad Chaudhry, Shireen Mazari and Aijaz Ahmed Chaudhry have also been made part of the committee.
The prime minister during the meeting asked the participants to refrain from repeating mistakes committed during the KP local bodies elections. “I will personally review candidates and will then award tickets to them,” he said while directing the KP CM Mahmood Khan to organize the party cadre in the province.