All forgotten: Kasuri makes PTI comeback
No more ‘mafia’ in PTI after appeasement by Imran Khan.
Fauzia Kasuri. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
After weeks of estrangement, Fauzia Kasuri rejoined Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) on Monday while foregoing her plans of independently contesting the NA 48 Islamabad by-election.
Kasuri, head of the women’s wing of PTI, had quit the party after a much publicised press conference five weeks back, in which she had accused the party leadership of bias after she was refused a reserved seat for women.
Her decision came shortly after her back-to-back meetings with PTI Chairman Imran Khan, who finally managed to convince Kasuri to return to the party fold before his departure for the United Kingdom on Monday.
Party sources revealed to The Express Tribune that successful appeasement of Kasuri was a joint effort involving Imran Khan, party vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Insaf Student Federation’s president Farrukh Habib and ISF secretary Waqas Iftikhar Butt.
Speaking to reporters about her return to the party, Kasuri said that she will now assume the office of adviser to the party chairman on overseas Pakistanis and gender.
Talking to media, she expressed trust in PTI Chairman’s leadership and said principled differences amongst senior leadership were the beauty of true democracy. “I have come back to the party I was with since day one. I have rejoined the women and children of Insaf Students’ Federation,” she added.
Controversy surrounding Kasuri started when PTI’s top leadership officially claimed that she had not been cleared to contest intra-party elections due to her dual nationality.
Party officials claimed that though Kasuri had given up her foreign nationality, she had done so too late to contest the elections.
However, Kasuri had come out vocally against the party after being refused a reserved seat and had claimed in various television shows that PTI was “hostage to a mafia,” claiming that she and many other party members had become victims of this very mafia.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 9th, 2013.
After weeks of estrangement, Fauzia Kasuri rejoined Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) on Monday while foregoing her plans of independently contesting the NA 48 Islamabad by-election.
Kasuri, head of the women’s wing of PTI, had quit the party after a much publicised press conference five weeks back, in which she had accused the party leadership of bias after she was refused a reserved seat for women.
Her decision came shortly after her back-to-back meetings with PTI Chairman Imran Khan, who finally managed to convince Kasuri to return to the party fold before his departure for the United Kingdom on Monday.
Party sources revealed to The Express Tribune that successful appeasement of Kasuri was a joint effort involving Imran Khan, party vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Insaf Student Federation’s president Farrukh Habib and ISF secretary Waqas Iftikhar Butt.
Speaking to reporters about her return to the party, Kasuri said that she will now assume the office of adviser to the party chairman on overseas Pakistanis and gender.
Talking to media, she expressed trust in PTI Chairman’s leadership and said principled differences amongst senior leadership were the beauty of true democracy. “I have come back to the party I was with since day one. I have rejoined the women and children of Insaf Students’ Federation,” she added.
Controversy surrounding Kasuri started when PTI’s top leadership officially claimed that she had not been cleared to contest intra-party elections due to her dual nationality.
Party officials claimed that though Kasuri had given up her foreign nationality, she had done so too late to contest the elections.
However, Kasuri had come out vocally against the party after being refused a reserved seat and had claimed in various television shows that PTI was “hostage to a mafia,” claiming that she and many other party members had become victims of this very mafia.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 9th, 2013.