PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Workers Ittehad Saturday accused their provincial leaders of awarding tickets to the smugglers, extortionists and other of their favourites for the upcoming local government elections. Speaking at a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club, convener of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Workers Ittehad Arbab Nisar Khan, deputy convener Asif Hadi, convener Women Wing Asiya Khattak and in-charge Youth Wing Ilyas Khalil said that PTI Chairman Imran Khan had appointed Vice-Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi as head of the parliamentary board to award tickets for the local government elections, but PTI provincial president Azam Swati awarded tickets to smugglers, extortionists and corrupt persons. They alleged that Azam Swati ignored the recommendations of the parliamentary board and awarded tickets to his cronies. “This would affect the party’s performance in the local government elections,” Arbab Nisar stressed. The unhappy PTI activists demanded that the party leadership should take note of the matter and direct the provincial leaders to reconsider the award of the party tickets and redistribute the same on the basis of the recommendations of the parliamentary board of the party. They urged the party leadership to expel Azam Swati from the PTI in light of the verdict of the election tribunal of the party headed by Justice (Retd) Wajihuddin Ahmad. The PTI workers also staged demonstration outside the Press Club and chanted slogans against Azam Swati and party MPAs Yasin Khalil and Arif Yusuf. They also set ablaze the posters of Swati and the two MPAs, both elected from Peshawar. The PTI workers rejected any formula for the award of the tickets for the local government elections except the one presented by Shah Mehmood Qureshi. They threatened to stage countrywide protests if their demands were not met within 24 hours.
