Internal rifts divide PTI workers

Council members form group against district nazim

DI KHAN: A large number of PTI lawmakers in DI Khan have refused to meet Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and have insisted on presenting their charter of demands before the party chairperson, Imran Khan. These open differences over multiple issues among the top leadership have also seeped into the local leadership and impacted workers at the district level.

Over the past few weeks, local governments have witnessed critical changes in the political structure. These have surfaced as a threat to PTI leaders and DI Khan district nazim Azizullah Alizai.

Alizai is the nephew of another PTI leader and MPA Samiullah Alizai. They are facing the threats of a vote of no-confidence as PTI’s district councillors have formed an anti-nazim group called the Pressure Group.

In order to deal with this burgeoning threat, the district nazim has announced that he has the resignations of all PTI council members with him. These resignations were submitted to him as a sign of solidarity and loyalty.

He has also sent three resignations of PTI councillors from reserved seats to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). However, the councillors wrote to the ECP, saying their resignations were submitted without their consent. ECP did not approve their resignations and they are still holding public office. The district nazim failed to control the situation through these tactics.

On the other hand, several other PTI councillors have threatened to submit a vote of no-confidence to the district nazim and form alliances with other political parties.

These differences have arisen due to the conflicts between PTI MPA Ali Amin Gandapur and Ikramullah Gandapur. The latter had also accused Ali Amin of killing his brother and registered an FIR against him.

While speaking at an occasion, the opposition leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman said the district nazim must go home before the budget is announced otherwise his party will remove him from office using a vote of no-confidence with two third majorities.

This shows how, even after winning the local body elections, PTI still could not counter the prevalent political influence of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman. A disgruntled PTI lawmaker even alleged the CM of secretly supporting Fazl. JUI-F claims it is the only party which can deliver in DI Khan and aims to supervise development projects recently announced in the budget.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31^st, 2016.