Rifts in PTI as ‘21 lawmakers hint at forming forward bloc’

ISLAMABAD: Cracks have emerged in the embattled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as its 21 lawmakers, who are now part of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), have hinted at forming a forward bloc over the top leadership’s inability to secure the release of party founder Imran Khan from jail, sources told Geo News on Wednesday.

In a setback to the former ruling party, 21 PTI lawmakers signaled that they would form a forward bloc and “conveyed a message” to Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan to start serious efforts for incarcerated leader’s release.

“More than 21 PTI lawmakers held consultations after Shehryar Afridi’s statement about his resignation. Meanwhile, Shandana Gulzar Khan, Sher Afzal Marwat and several lawmakers also protested over the incompetence of party’s top leadership,” the sources revealed.

It emerged that several PTI legislators excused from attending the parliamentary party’s session due to their differences besides alleging that the parliamentary leader in the Senate and senior leaders in the National Assembly had “compromised” over some committees.

They alleged that some leaders were eyeing higher posts instead of focusing on the PTI founder and party leaders’ release from jails. The 21 lawmakers were in favour of stepping down from the assembly and mulled over forming a forward bloc, the sources added.

The revelations about heightened differences between PTI legislators were bolstered by a recent statement of MNA Shandana who told Geo News: “Resignations would be a better option if we cannot take the PTI founder out of jail. We are now beating the desk [here in the assembly] and wasting our energy for committees. It is quite better to sit at home. I have also threatened to tender our resignations after Afridi’s call.”

Expressing serious concerns over the top leaders’ activities in the legislature, Shandana alleged that many “suspicious characters in the political committee” had vanished from the scene after the May 9 riots.

She added that the disgruntled leaders were not part of the party’s core committee. The MNA also claimed that after Afridi’s announcement on resignation, Marwat also decided to step down. Another PTI leader Atif Khan told Geo News that he also has objections to various matters within the party which was not an unusual thing for political parties. He, however, suggested his fellow leaders to end rifts and differences by using party platforms instead of going public.

The development came to light after the party’s secretary general and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub, in response to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s offer to talks, showed conditional agreement to start negotiations with the coalition government once its founder and other incarcerated workers and leaders were out of jail.