ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has fared better by ultimately bowing before the decision of the Justice (R) Wajiuddin Commission that had ruled that all the elected bodies should be dissolved due to gross illegalities and irregularities in the 2013 party election. The PTI chief’s positive determination follows a lot of public bickering over the decision of the commission. Even Imran Khan had wound up the very forum he had himself constituted though the reputed former judge had insisted that the body can’t be finished like this. Even while looking into the task assigned to him, Wajiuddin acted like a serving judge, reviewing each and every grave complaint in a judicial fashion. His decision was resisted by a coterie of senior PTI leaders, holding top party positions who were directly affected by it. Imran Khan too defied it. However, as the dust kicked up by the intense controversy between Wajiuddin and a set of PTI stalwarts has settled down, Imran Khan has decided to obey the verdict of the commission. Obviously, the decision was a bitter pill to swallow as it had indicted different senior party leaders. By dissolving the elected bodies, the PTI chairman has announced interim provincial setups. He has made former Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar organiser of Punjab. It is apparently not a good choice. A figure that has roots among masses and has been engaged in the party politics for a long time was required for this position of a province where, Imran Khan feels, he has major stakes to realise his dream of clinching the senior most government position after the next general elections. Senior figures like Ijaz Chaudhry, Aleem Khan, Sadaqat Abbasi and so many others, associated with the PTI for years, who are considered its old guard, have been ignored. A new entrant has been bestowed the prize slot. His deputy, Azizullah, too doesn’t have much public say. The decision to make Dr Arif Alvi in charge of the stopgap arrangement in Sindh appears to be appropriate as he has mostly been busy with the public campaigns specifically in Karachi on important issues. Besides, he also frequently speaks for the PTI in TV talk shows. Instead of according most important office in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to Azam Swati, who recently returned as senator, Imran Khan chose Yousaf Ayub, a grandson of late Field Marshal Ayub Khan. He belongs to Haripur. The PTI chairman has banned the office-bearers of the interim setup from contesting the next party elections. The fresh party election is likely to be held before the next parliamentary polls. Imran Khan will announce a new setup to organize the exercise. Last time, just two months before the May 2013 general polls, he had announced the intra-party elections, an otherwise a good though ill-timed decision which damaged the PTI more than it benefited. This had demonstrated the lopsided approach in the party. When every party was massively geared up and campaigning for the parliamentary polls, the PTI was busy in the internal elections, which gave rise to severe infighting and internal strife, and allegations of use of money and influence to manipulate the exercise were levelled. Different sets of leaders fought with each other to grab party positions, leading to illegalities. The PTI could not concentrate on the poll campaign due to its own elections. The internal bitterness triggered by it was never fully healed. Ultimately, in December 2013, the PTI chief had formed the Wajihuddin Commission to carry out an investigation into the internal party elections. Acting like a true judge, Wajihuddin handed down his decision in October 2014, ordering dissolution of all the elected bodies of the party and the holding of a new election before March 18, 2015. Besides, Imran Khan’s confidantes, he also attacked the core committee and PTI Secretary General Jehangir Tareen. The PTI chief refused to follow the decision of the commission. A public war of words ensued. Wajihuddin summoned Imran Khan, who refused to appear before the forum, and disbanded even the very body saying that it has effectively ceased to exist and its members have no further powers because it was constituted for a specific purpose. However, a few weeks later, he has accepted Wajihuddin’s decision, which has gone well as a whole.
