Local PTI leaders end differences for NA-246 battle

Karachi
Disgruntled leaders of the Karachi chapter of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have announced they are ending their differences with Karachi president Ali Zaidi and will fully participate in the by-election in NA-246.
A number of PTI leaders, especially Subhan Ali Sahil, Raza Azhar, Ashraf Qureshi and Zubair Khan, were unhappy with the decision of their party chairman, Imran Khan, to appoint Zaidi as city president.
However, they have decided to shun their differences in order to keep the morale of the party workers high. “The PTI is a democratic party and our differences are based on democratic principles,” said Sahil, talking to The News. “But now it is high time to avoid showing such differences.”
When the PTI delegation-led by its candidate for the NA-246 by-election, Imran Ismail, came under attack during a visit to the Jinnah Ground near Nine Zero on March 31, Sahil, Azhar and other angry leaders could be seen on TV screens.
For the last several months, the party has had two parallel organisational presidents in the city – Najeeb Haroon and Qureshi. But on December 25, the party’s central leadership nominated Zaidi as Karachi president, deepening the crisis.
Many leaders, including Sahil and Qureshi and Zubair Khan, termed it an “undemocratic” attitude of the party’s central leadership, and said it would harm the party’s popularity in the city.
The PTI election tribunal report, prepared by Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed on the party’s organisational elections, does not allow the party’s leadership to appoint anyone, according to displeased leaders.
However, in late March, the PTI leadership had accepted the recommendation of the tribunal report to hold countrywide fresh elections and dissolved all organisational tiers of the party, except the party chairman.