Junaid replaces Gandapur as PTI's K-P president

Party says decision taken at chief minister's request

RAWALPINDI:

In a move that might have taken many by surprise, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's founder Imran Khan on Saturday relieved his trusted confidante and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister, Ali Amin Gandapur, from the office of the party's president in K-P replacing him with Junaid Akbar Khan.

The change announced by PTI Secretary General Barrister Salman Akram Raja came amid political maneuvering at the Centre where the embattled opposition party is engaged in a roller-coaster negotiation process with the ruling coalition headed by its arch-nemesis PML-N.

Gandapur is a trusted lieutenant of Khan, but of late he got mired in a controversy for his alleged backdoor efforts to mend fences between his beleaguered party and the powerful security establishment. He was reportedly behind a recent meeting between the army chief and PTI's top leaders in Peshawar, though little is known of what had transpired in the meeting which was dubbed by some political analysts as a "breakthrough."

Junaid Akbar's nomination came a day after he was elected chairman of the National Assembly's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) unopposed, filling a position that had been vacant since the February 2024 general elections.

The decision was taken at the request of the K-P chief minister, Barrister Salman Akram Raja told journalists outside the Adiala Jail. "Ali Amin Gandapur has a lot of responsibilities as chief minister of the province and faces many challenges in governance and ensuring law and order," he said. "With this in mind, the PTI founder has decided to replace him with Junaid Akbar Khan."

After his nomination as PTI K-P president, Akbar issued a statement on X expressing gratitude for the party's founder. "I am a middle-class person and I got this position because of hard work. Which is not found in other parties," he wrote on the popular micro-blogging site.

Raja hinted at more organisational changes within the PTI, including the potential appointment of former MNA Alia Hamza to an important position in Punjab.