PTI has expelled 11 legislators of the Gilgit-Baltistan assembly, including its Chief Minister Gulbar Khan, on charges of floor-crossing and violating party discipline. The party has also reportedly sent a show-cause notice to Governor Raja Jalal Hussain Maqpoon blaming him for encouraging defections. The belated move has, however, come just weeks before the legislature is due to complete its tenure in November 2025, pushing the region's political mosaic into uncertainty.
Gulbar Khan became the chief executive of G-B in July 2023, and this tactical wait of more than two years by the battered PTI deserves to be questioned, as it was an open and shut case of floor-crossing and in-house support from PPP and PML-N members. The fact that the PTI is a victim of political oppression from the government, along with strife and differences from within, has rendered its functioning as a coherent entity an uphill task.
It is also a reality that its elected members in all the legislatures, including the Senate, remained oblivious to public sentiments and were never seen leading a political movement on the floor of the house or on the streets. The party's second-tier leadership, likewise, has been clueless and wandering in darkness. The absence of Imran Khan, now jailed for more than two years, has created a credibility gulf between the electorate and the legislators.
The PTI, which had been quite firm in admonishing its elected members in yesteryears, as it had expelled Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa lawmakers and Senators back in 2018, had been hiding behind exigency since its ouster from power in April 2022. The silence maintained over its National Assembly members and Senators who duped the party by voting or being absent during the passage of 26th amendment is a case in point. To this day, the PTI has not named and shamed them.
While the PTI is seen pulling up its socks, as it goes on to discipline its rank and file, it must also focus on how to stay relevant and ensure that its decisions are politically apt and in real time.
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