PTI retains Junaid Akbar as K-P president, grants authority to Noorul Haq Qadri in his absence

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan on Saturday issued a notification stating that the party’s provincial organisation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) would continue to function under the presidency of Junaid Akbar, highlighting no changes to the provincial cabinet or organisational structure until further orders.

The government and opposition failed to reach an agreement, and emergency and governor’s rule were declared on October 11 after talks failed, following a PTI long march towards Islamabad that began on October 4. On the same day, police arrested 59 PTI workers in Swabi and six others in Khyber district, while reports emerged that ousted chief minister Sohail Afridi and Akbar had also been taken into custody. Since then, intraparty rifts reportedly emerged, leading to PTI leaders exchanging barbs online.

According to a notification issued today and shared on X, Senator Noorul Haq Qadri, identified as the party’s senior vice-president in K-P, would preside over meetings of the provincial cabinet in the absence of Junaid.

The notification further assigned PTI K-P General Secretary Ali Asghar the responsibility of chairing meetings in the absence of the senior vice-president. He was also authorised to convene and chair meetings of other tiers of the provincial organisation.

According to the document, Asghar would oversee the organisation’s administration, coordination and supervision across its various tiers and wings to ensure the implementation of party policies, strategies and decisions.

The notification was signed by Barrister Gohar in his capacity as chairman of PTI.

The notification comes amid an internal rift within the PTI, with differences over the party’s leadership and political strategy in K-P spilling into the public domain. On October 21, The Express Tribune reported that former K-P chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur and PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja had exchanged criticism over allegations of internal divisions, the provincial leadership and the handling of the party’s political affairs.

Raja warned of attempts by what he described as “undemocratic decision-makers” to undermine internal consensus, while Gandapur demanded that the party secretary general substantiate his allegations and apologise.

The dispute intensified following a purported audio recording in which Gandapur allegedly blamed Raja’s “mismanagement and flawed planning” for the provincial government’s dismissal and the party’s current predicament. The Express Tribune said it could not independently verify the recording.

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Gandapur also challenged claims that provincial lawmakers were attempting to decide the party’s leadership and the next chief minister without the approval of PTI founder Imran Khan and the party’s political committee. Raja, meanwhile, maintained that Afridi remained the lawful chief minister and that Akbar continued as provincial party president, with Asghar acting in Akbar’s absence.

Barrister Gohar sought to contain the fallout, telling the media that he had spoken to the leaders involved and urged them to stop issuing statements against one another.

He maintained that the party’s provincial lawmakers remained united and that Afridi continued to be the party’s choice for chief minister. Against this backdrop, the October 24 notification formalises the arrangements for the PTI’s K-P organisation, specifying who will preside over meetings in the absence of senior office-bearers.