PTI intra-party polls not in sight

 ISLAMABAD: New intra-party elections in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) are now a thing of the past due to the infighting, and the exercise is not on the cards in the near future, at least before the next parliamentary polls.

“We have postponed the intra-party elections for an indefinite time to focus on other priorities,” PTI spokesman Naeemul Haq told The News when contacted for his version.

The fight between two powerful and wealthy factions of Punjab over the presidency of the provincial chapter led to the deferment, leading to annulment, of the elections. As this clash was touching its zenith and had become open to a great embarrassment of the PTI, the Panama Papers disclosures cropped up, prompting Imran Khan to use these leaks as a convincing and plausible pretext to put off the elections saying that he will now exclusively concentrate on street protest to make Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif accountable.

Naeemul Haq said that for the time being the PTI’s utmost attention was on pursuing its reference filed in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), seeking disqualification of the premier; vigorously following similar cases in superior courts; and garnering public support through bringing people on the streets to force Nawaz Sharif into accepting his accountability by a judicial commission.

Simultaneously, the PTI spokesman said, the party is engaged in a process of selecting its federal and provincial candidates to be fielded in the next general elections. Unlike before, he said, the PTI will now give a sufficient time to this exercise to make correct decisions.

To a question, Naeemul Haq said that Chaudhry Sarwar, who was vying for the post of the Punjab president of the PTI against Shafqat Mehmood, would be given some key responsibility at the central level. However, he made it clear that the office of the central president has been scrapped.

The slot was created to accommodate Javed Hashmi, and was abolished after he had quit it with a bang during the 2014 sit-in, spawning massive troubles for the PTI at that crucial point of time.

For some time, the usual activity and controversy that accompany the PTI’s internal elections prevailed but it came to a sudden halt after Imran Khan cancelled the process, trying to lead his followers to the campaign on the Panama Papers.

A week back, he restored Qureshi as the vice chairman and Jehangir Tareen as the general secretary of the party, finally telling all and sundry that there will be no fresh elections in the party in the near future and the old faces will run the organizational structure.

Naeemul Haq said the provincial setups were being nominated. In Balochistan, such paraphernalia already exists. It is yet to be appointed in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh. The decision that may trigger disputes and conflict will relate to the Punjab where the PTI is extremely divided.

The PTI has no good experience of intra-party elections. Its first such exercise was marred with gross corruption and vote buying allegations as per the report of respected Justice (retd) Wajihuddin, who held many top leaders of the party, all very close to Imran Khan, responsible for this sleazy dealing and recommended their expulsion from the party.

The present election, scheduled for April-May, was not without abundant controversies. PTI Chief Election Commissioner Tasneem Noorani and two of his deputies stepped down under protest after Imran Khan did not accept their recommendations that direct election to all the tiers of the party from top to bottom should be held. The party chief stood for such election only to a couple of selected positions, giving the newly elected office bearers authority to nominate others. After that Imran Khan nominated another party leader as the central election commissioner.