At loggerheads: PTI’s FATA leaders draw swords over new youth set-up

Will resist the parallel YOC at all fronts, says PTI FATA president.


Mureeb Mohmand February 09, 2015
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Mohmand said he met PTI Youth Wing Central President Ali Abbas Bukhari and General Secretary Qasim Ali Shah in Islamabad and will hold a press conference in Peshawar . PHOTO: FILE

SHABQADAR: The political leadership of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Fata chapter has its swords drawn against each other. As the party continues to strengthen roots in the tribal belt, three factions have emerged from within the existing hierarchy.

An insider told The Express Tribune the groups are led by Iqbal Afridi, Dr Basher and Ajab Gul Wazir, adding matters worsened with the announcement of the PTI FATA Youth Organisation Committee (YOC) last week.

Addressing a news conference on February 5, Afridi independently announced Shahid Bangash as president and Sajid Mohmand as general secretary of the YOC. Resistance from within the ranks followed suit as PTI Fata Youth President Naveed Mohmand announced to contest the parallel youth set-up at all fronts.



Speaking to The Express Tribune, Mohmand said he met PTI Youth Wing Central President Ali Abbas Bukhari and General Secretary Qasim Ali Shah in Islamabad and will hold a press conference in Peshawar on Tuesday (today). A meeting has also been summoned for next week in order to decide future plans, he said.

PTI FATA organising committee member Khan Rehman Afridi shared similar sentiments, saying Iqbal Afridi is a self-proclaimed committee president and has no right to decide upon a new youth set-up without consultation.

He claimed Iqbal has formed a pressure group of his own and has harmed the party’s struggle in the past as well. Afridi said the committee was formed to restructure the party in the tribal areas and address the concerns of disgruntled workers, not to constitute parallel bodies.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10th, 2015.

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