Fissures emerge: PTI workers in Hazara group against MPAs over tickets

Leaders take drastic measures to protect their interests

ABBOTABAD: Internal rifts within Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf persist in Hazara Division over the allotment of tickets for local government elections. Growing tensions within the party have widened the gap between its senior leaders and new entrants.

According to insiders, party workers in the district have been up in arms ever since the district leadership reportedly manipulated the process and issued tickets to those whom workers consider “turncoats and blue-eyed leaders”.

This appears to have become a recurring trend with the party’s ranks. Similar concerns were raised when the party’s district leaders issued tickets for the cantonment board elections to candidates who had only joined PTI a few months before.



Neglected by their party, senior PTI leaders have shifted their loyalties. During the cantonment board elections, a large number of PTI workers decided not to support the party nominee Muhammad Ali Awais. Instead, they threw their weight behind an independent candidate, Wajid Khan Jadoon. Similarly, the decision to issue a ticket to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Gujar, a former office bearer of QWP who recently joined the PTI, also drew the ire of senior party leaders.

Up in arms

As similar challenges have emerged for LG polls, senior PTI leaders are caught between a rock and a hard place. Driven by the instinct of self-preservation, some leaders have taken drastic measures to protect their interests and ensure their voices are heard.

Ali Javed Sethi, a stalwart who lost his ticket to a new entrant, decided to join the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz over the party’s policy of “accepting turncoats”. Fazalur Rehman, a senior PTI leader from Qalandarabad, resigned and joined PML-N when Qalandar Khan Lodhi, an MPA from Abbottabad, allegedly failed to honour his promise to issue a ticket to him. The ticket was instead issued to Naeem Lodhi, Qalandar’s nephew who recently joined the party.

Malik Nawaz, a member of PTI’s working committee from Abbottabad, has denounced the decision to issue tickets to those who have made little or no contributions to the party. According to Nawaz, local MNAs and MPAs have allowed their vested interests to cloud their judgment. As a result, they have allotted tickets to their loved ones. The leader has also announced his plans to contest elections against his party from the Ittehad Panel.

Beyond rifts

Speaking to The Express Tribune, PTI Abbottabad Information Secretary Naeem Sarwar Khan has confirmed heightened tensions amidst party ranks.

“The party’s MNAs and MPAs have sown the seeds of doubt,” he said. “The party’s aim was to devolve power to grass-roots level. However, it appears favoured candidates have been issued tickets.”

According to Khan, 50% of tickets were allotted to members who are fairly new to the party. “Such leaders are likely to lose LG elections,” he said. “Ultimately, PTI’s popularity will be affected by their defeat. I strongly urge PTI chief Imran Khan to review the ticket allotment policy to ensure his party’s manifesto is implemented.”

When contacted, former National Assembly deputy speaker and a senior party leader in Hazara Sardar Muhammad Yaqub Khan said disunity has laid siege to the party over the issue of ticket allotment. However, he said, 80% of tickets had been issued to those who have genuinely worked for the party while the rest were allotted to those who had “considerable potential” to be elected.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2015.