PTI battles internal rift after inquiry report

Party leader calls for probe into legal team’s failure

LAHORE:

In the aftermath of the Judicial Commission’s report, internal fissures in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have surfaced over the party’s failure to substantiate that the 2013 general elections were rigged.

Hamid Khan, a party leader and senior lawyer, has called for an internal probe into the failure of PTI’s legal squad to prove the allegations before the apex court’s panel.

The remarks have sparked criticism from Shoaib Siddiqi, a senior PTI leader, who accused Hamid of being insincere. Siddiqi was one of the members of the PTI taskforce formed to deal with matters pertaining to the rigging inquiry by the judicial panel.

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“The greatest setback to the case was that it was given in the wrong hands,” Hamid told The Express Tribune on Tuesday. The party’s legal team failed to conceptualise as how to legally proceed with the case, he added.



Given the evidence, he said the party’s chance of proving rigging was strong. “Had the case been legally pursued in a proper fashion, I am absolutely confident that the evidence was enough to prove the rigging claims.”

Blaming Ishaq Khan Khakwani and Jahangir Tareen for the failure, Hamid said that the legal team failed not only to fight the legal battle but also failed to produce proper evidence before the inquiry commission.

“Had legal expertise been sought from legal minds within the party contesting similar cases in the election tribunals, the outcome would have been different,” he said, adding, ‘They are now trying to shift the blame… We will have to fix responsibility in order to move ahead.”

Responding to the comments made by Hamid, adviser on electoral affairs to the PTI chief Shoaib Siddiqi has termed it an irresponsible behaviour.

He stated that bringing out internal party affairs in the open is not a show of sincerity to the party or its chairman Imran Khan.

“Hamid did not raised any reservations during the 86-day long hearing of the inquiry commission,” Shoaib told The Express Tribune.

‘He [Hamid] did not come to the hearing on a single day,” he said.

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Meanwhile, PTI spokesperson Naeemul Haque said that Imran Khan has called a meeting with his disgruntled senior leader Hamid Khan on Wednesday [today].

Talking to The Express Tribune, he said that while Hamid is a senior lawyer and party member his reservations would be addressed in the meeting scheduled today.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2015.