Local politics: Rifts arise in PTI’s Charsadda chapter

District president expels central senior vice president.

CHARSADDA: The district president of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Zahoor Khan Umarzai, has expelled the party’s central senior vice president Mian Mukarram Shah.

Umarzai, speaking at a workers convention at Charsadda municipal hall, said Shah was no longer associated with the party.

On the other hand, Shah told The Express Tribune, said he was one of the party’s founders in the province and has always struggled for the PTI. He said the district president is facing corruption charges from party workers and called him a “part-time worker”.  He alleged Umerzai would jump ship as soon as PTI’s time in government is over.



Umarzai is a new member of the PTI and is considered close to the Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, whereas Shah is said to have Chief Minister Pervez Khattak’s backing.

According to party workers, both groups have often been at loggerheads in Charsadda and the latest incident is bound to create a deep and irreversible rift in the local chapter of the party.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2014.