A thorn in the side: PTI pressure group refuses to meet CM

Info secretary says Imran Khan will resolve grievances, if genuine, in a meeting set for today.

PESHAWAR: The provincial leadership of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf which is struggling to cope with increasing divides within its ranks in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa suffered another setback on Thursday when its disgruntled members refused to meet Chief Minister Pervez Khattak.

According to insiders, some PTI MPAs tried to set up a meeting between the disgruntled members and CM Pervez Khattak, however, the group members declined, saying they only wanted to talk to party chief Imran Khan.

This has finally led PTI’s central leadership to take notice of the ambivalence plaguing the party in K-P, and a meeting between PTI Chairman Imran Khan and disgruntled members has been scheduled for Friday (today).

Sources within the PTI told The Express Tribune on Thursday that PTI General Secretary Jehangir Tareen and PTI K-P President Azam Swati have been barred from interfering in the affairs of the provincial government in K-P. The insider added some central leaders of the party also opposed Swati and Tareen’s constant intervention in the provincial government.

According to the source, Shireen Mazari, the information secretary of PTI, had even questioned Tareen’s status in the party, stating he was selected, not elected, as the general secretary. However, Tareen’s reply left Mazari baffled.

“Mazari had sent an email to Tareen stating he should refrain from interfering in the K-P government’s affairs. In response, Tareen suspended her from the post of information secretary,” explained the insider. He added Mazari was, however, reinstated by Chairman Imran Khan during a core committee meeting held on Wednesday.

Party sources also shared that the MPAs who had formed a pressure group within the party in the provincial assembly gathered at the MPAs hostel late Wednesday to discuss their future strategy.

Certain MPAs tried to set up a meeting between the disgruntled members and Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, but the group declined.

“A meeting was also held at the assembly speaker’s house and Speaker Asad Qaisar met the group members at 1am on Thursday,” the insider said, adding that the aggrieved members only wanted to talk to Imran Khan.

PTI Central Vice President Naeemul Haq, considered to be the right hand of the party chief, has contacted the pressure group and sought a meeting between them and Khan to discuss the issue in detail.

“Imran Khan has scheduled a meeting with unhappy PTI members of the provincial assembly of K-P,” Haq told The Express Tribune.

Information secretary Mazari added Khan will resolve grievances of the MPAs “if they were genuine”.

Another party insider said the discontent members were prepared to reply to Khan’s queries and will likely ask him to take back portfolios from those MPAs who were elected as independent candidates and joined the party after that.

A member of the pressure group said, “I am sure Khan will have prepared himself but we are also prepared and are aware of the consequences. We will never resign if asked to do so, and will demand suspension of our membership instead because we will have to reply to our voters.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 4^th, 2014.