Wajih meets Imran, discusses PTI issues

ISLAMABAD: The head of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s election tribunal Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmad met the party Chairman Imran Khan after a long time and stuck to his guns with regard to his order and said that the party membership of Jehangir Tareen be cancelled.
After a long interaction with Imran at his residence in Bani Gala, Wajih talked to media persons and said he would have another round of talks with him on August 2, the day a grand consultative party session has been summoned at a local hotel here. He noted the meeting was held in a pleasant environment. A day earlier, Imran dashed to Lahore to allay concerns and apprehensions of party leaders and workers.
The veteran jurist asserted that he stood by neither the ‘qabza group’ nor the establishment and that he was with the ideological party people and was opposed to those who wanted to damage Imran and PTI. Wajih said it was mutually agreed that intra-party elections would be held soon.
Wajih said he stood by his report and made this clear to Imran. On Tareen, he said as per the tribunal report, he wanted cancellation of his party membership ‘for his role in damaging the PTI through his actions’.
The jurist, who had declined to take oath under the provisional constitutional order during Pervez Musharraf regime, noted that the tribunal issued decisions on the basis of evidence and principles.
Asked for his views on the Inquiry Commission’s observations about the Election Commission of Pakistan, Wajih contended that the recommendations on the electoral body had certain lacunas.
He cautioned that certain forces were out to damage the PTI from within and politically well. He laid emphasis on strengthening the party from within and abiding by discipline.Replying to a question, Wajih clarified that he never had bad relations with anyone in PTI. Imran had tried to convince the tribunal to pack up and also wrote to it as well, but the forum has stopped working for the time being and will be active again when it felt the need.
Speaking on the occasion, senior PTI leader and its founding member, Hamid Khan, who has also been sidelined for long, complained that party people having no idea about legal matters were consulted on how to present PTI case on 2013 polls rigging before the Inquiry Commission. He blamed such people for the damage caused to PTI following the issuance of the commission report.
To a question, Wajih said on the other side the PTI chairman also agreed on various issues like holding intra-party elections after completion of the voters list.“We have agreed to hold intra-party elections after local government elections in Punjab because the preparation of the voters list would at least take two months,” he said.