PTI mulls action against seven party members

Face charges of not backing party candidates during K-P LG polls

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has issued show-cause notices to seven of its parliamentarians for violating party discipline in the recent local government elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. But it has so far stopped short of taking decisive action against them.

The party had issued notices to former K-P PTI president Senator Azam Swati, MNA Shehryar Khan Afridi and K-P MPAs Yaseen Khalil, Ziaullah Bangash, Imtiaz Qureshi, and Arif Yousaf.

Subsequently a committee was formed comprising PTI Vice President Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Secretary Information Naeemul Haq, Additional Organiser Saifullah Niazi and Provincial Organiser Fazal Muhammad Khan. Sources say all seven members, who were issued the notices, have appeared before this committee in person.

However, the committee has yet to finalise what action, if any, to take against these members. It is expected that the committee will convene a meeting in the coming days to deliberate over a decision.

Meanwhile, K-P Chief Minister Parvez Khattak, who was perturbed at the behavior of some party members, has said that the party may approach the Election Commission (ECP) to request disqualification of these seven members.

The PTI had formed local governments in only nine of the 23 districts in the province and Khattak argued that they would have secured more seats had some of their members followed party policy to back PTI’s candidates.

Swati is accused of buying votes in intra-party elections before requesting a party ticket for his brother in Mansehra. PTI denied his request, and the seat was lost to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with Swati accused of supporting a rival party.

Afridi is accused of not backing PTI’s candidate in Kohat.

During the LG polls, 10 councillors were elected in Town-III Peshawar but they did not part take in voting. PTI councillors also failed to vote in Takht-i-Nusrati tehsil of Karak. In Charsadda three councilors did not vote.

In Buner district, 11 PTI councillors did not vote. One of them went on to compete against the party’s candidate. In Malakand district two women candidates did not cast their votes. In Abbottabad district the PTI had 11 members, including three who were directly elected, but they did not vote for the party candidate.

Rifts deepen

The show-cause notices may, however, worsen the situation for the party in K-P where some workers were already aggrieved over how party tickets had been awarded during the local government elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2015.