Internal rift: PTI's K-P minister and Mardan MPA at odds with each other

Minister Atif Khan claims Mardan MPAs involved in corruption; PK-26 MPA Iftikhar Mushwani accuses Atif of interference

PESHAWAR: All is not rosy in the land of ‘change’ as a rift between Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) lawmakers Atif Khan and Iftikhar Ali Mushwani - both Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPAs  - has reached a point where they are are speaking out against each other in public.

While addressing a public gathering in PK-26 Mardan on June 30, Atif, who was elected in PK-30 Mardan and is also the K-P education minister, accused the area’s lawmakers of involvement in corruption.

The participants of the gathering responded by chanting slogans against Mushwani, the MPA in PK-26 Mardan, and alleged that he misappropriated funds in various development schemes.

PTI chief Imran Khan has struggled for 21 years to put the party on stable ground and his only mission is to eliminate corruption and bring change in Pakistan, Atif said.



“There is no place in the party for those who are corrupt and sell jobs and contracts for uplift schemes,” the minister added.

“I admit that the PTI government has failed to hold corrupt people accountable and bring about a 100 per cent change in K-P as we had promised."

The minister said the provincial leadership was either supporting corrupt people or afraid to take action against them.

“Each and every one in the government and the party should be held accountable and whether it's the chief minister or an ordinary PTI worker, corrupt people should be expelled,” he added.

Atif claimed that the party would not award tickets to 80 per cent of the corrupt people within its ranks for the next elections.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Mushwani said the tussle between him and the minister was because of Atif’s “interference and misuse of power”.

“Atif considers himself the only leader of the party in Mardan, but he doesn’t even know the names of the district’s 75 union council members,” Mushwani added.

The MPA said he had met Imran Khan a few days ago and informed him about all the development work in the constituency as well as about Atif's "interference".



Mushwani also criticised Atif for speaking against the party and demanded that its leadership should take notice of his “controversial speech".

On July 1, K-P Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had issued a press release stating that the PTI government had eliminated corruption and nepotism and the views expressed by Atif were his personal opinion, not the party’s stance.

The handout further read that the government and the PTI leadership were satisfied with performance of its ministers and MPAs and no one had been accused of corruption.

Khattak further said 80 per cent of the PTI’s MPA would be given party tickets to contest the next elections.