Meet Naik Muhammad Khan, who ran against Imran Khan in PTI’s intra-party polls

Naik Muhammad Khan, a founding member, says PTI is not a party of kings and queens

PESHAWAR: As the Imran Khan-led Insaf Panel is expected to ‘clean sweep’ the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) intra-party elections, Naik Muhammad Khan is curiously waiting for the results as he was running against his own party's chairman.

The entire exercise on the midnight of June 12 was tailored to subdue internal dissent which the PTI had experienced in 2012 when it held 'genuine' intra-party polls, fully in line with its constitution.

Naik Muhammad Khan ran against Imran Khan this year for the post of the party’s chairman while Syed Aftab Shah was in the race against Shah Mehmood Qureshi for the post of the vice chairman.



When the PTI intra-party elections were about to commence, Naik Muhammad had decided to come up with his own panel against Imran, and his decision received mixed reactions within the party.

Naik Muhammad Khan (C)  with PTI Chairman Imran Khan. PHOTO: Express

“I still believe that the PTI is not a party of kings and queens. It is a vibrant democratic party which has allowed each and every member, through its manifesto, to run for any post within it. Therefore, I brought my own panel against Imran Khan,” said Naik Muhammad.

Profile

Naik Muhammad has four sons and is the same age as the PTI chairman. He lives near the hills of Malakand in Swat.

After finishing his schooling in Sakhakot village, Naik Muhammad studied at the Islamia College Peshawar and later completed MSc in botany at the University of Peshawar. He also obtained another degree in law from the same university.

Soon after completing his education, Naik Muhammad started working for a US-Australian firm, Dillingham, near Tarbela Dam.

Later, he also worked as an administration manager in Swabi before moving to the US to earn a special degree from the Tulsa University Oklahoma. However, Naik Muhammad returned to Pakistan without obtaining the degree.

According to the party's founding member, the PTI is not a party of kings and queens. PHOTO: Express

Political career 

Naik Muhammad was among the 12 founding members of the PTI who had laid its foundation in Lahore in 1996. He was selected as its general secretary by Imran at a time when they did not even have a party cabinet. He served as the public welfare secretary from 1997 to 2008. Naik Muhammad also worked as the PTI’s first secretary general in Malakand. Later in 2003, he was elected the divisional head of the party. Currently, he is a member of the PTI’s central executive and core committees.



Beating the odds

“I had informed the party [PTI] chairman via senior members that I am competing against a person of my own age and not against Imran Khan because I want to change the old national pattern of our politics in which nobody dares to run against a party chief,” said Naik Muhammad while explaining why he chose to face Imran in the PTI’s intra-party elections.

Talking to The Express Tribune, he said, “Throughout my life, I have served in the energy sector at Tarbela Dam. I had to quit my job when my brother died at an early age and started working for the PTI.” However, he added, today very few faces are left in the party who were its founders. "Luckily, I am one of them," he added.

“I ran against my own chairman to set an example for other political parties in Pakistan, where the slot of the chairperson has been reserved for the 'sacred cows' of politics only,” he maintained.

At the outset, the PTI introduced drastic changes in its constitution, simplifying the structure of intra-party polls to pave the way for what a senior party leader termed “a dummy election”. The results of the intra-party election will be announced later today (Tuesday).