Ticket tiff: differences among Chitral JI leaders deepen

CHITRAL: Differences emerged in the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) in the district over the distribution of tickets for the upcoming general election.

The sources said that Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali would get the party ticket for the National Assembly while district nazim Maghfirat Shah would be nominated for provincial assembly constituency, PK-89.

Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali served as a member of the National Assembly from year 2002 to 2007 when the province was ruled by the Muttahida Majlis-e-Ammal (MMA), a conglomerate of six-party religious parties.

Zahiruddin and Maulana Javed Ahmed were also strong contenders for the other provincial assembly constituency, PK-90.

The sources said that tehsil naib nazim Hayatullah Khan, former student leader Hidayatullah, Atiqur Rehman and Engr Fazal Rabi were also aspirants for the ticket of the PK-89, which may be awarded to Maghfirat Shah.

The sources said that party workers were opposed to the award of ticket to Maghfirat Shah, saying that other senior workers of the party should also be considered. They said that Maghfirat Shah had served the party against senior positions and was serving as district nazim.

The sources in the party said the differences among leaders would create problems for the party in the election as many senior party leaders had already left the party.

They said that Fazal Rabi may form his own group in the party. There were also reports that the four senior leaders had tendered their resignation in protest.

Meanwhile, the JI in a press statement rejected the reports about resignation of four party leaders as baseless.

It said the JI had a proper process for its members to tender resignation from its membership. Under this process, no one has resigned from the party in Chitral, it added.