Defeat in PK-71 exposes cracks in PTI as Governor Shah Farman admits his mistake

PESHAWAR: Though Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Shah Farman is the first Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader who acknowledged his mistake for helping his brother to get the party ticket for contesting the by-election in Peshawar, the defeat of PTI candidate has exposed cracks in the party as some of the leaders openly opposed the party candidate Zulfiqar Khan.

Well-placed sources in the PTI told The News that certain PTI leaders publicly opposed the party candidate Zulfiqar Khan, who is brother of Governor Shah Farman and even encouraged some of the dissidents to contest election from union councils considered to be the strongholds of the ruling party.

"I acknowledge my mistake. It was a wrong decision. I should not have helped my brother get the party ticket. Let me assure my party workers that for rest of my life, I will always oppose this trend of family politics," the Governor told The News on Tuesday.

However, insiders in the PTI insisted that out of five MNAs and 12 MPAs not a single one bothered to help the party candidate in his election campaign as Shah Farman being the governor could not go out to help his brother.

"Now you can imagine how the PTI leadership was sincere and serious about this important decision. A very dangerous trend has started in the party and if this dirty practice continued, PTI will not need enemies in other political parties," a senior PTI leader opined in Peshawar.

According to PTI sources, the ANP candidate secured maximum votes that enabled him to win the election in the home polling station of PTI leader Asad Gulzar Khan. His sister, Shandana Gulzar is the PTI MNA but she remained quiet during the election campaign of the party candidate.

"This shows serious cracks in the party. When people saw that the party MNAs and MPAs were not campaigning for the PTI candidate and were openly opposing him, they decided not to waste their votes," the PTI activist observed.

Pleading anonymity, he said some party leaders, known to everybody, intentionally encouraged two PTI dissidents in union council Passani and union council Matani, which were strongholds of the party, to contest election. "They knew that the two PTI dissidentswon't win the by-election but would split the party votes in this area. These two candidates didn't go out of their respective union councils for campaigning as their aim was not winning the polls," said the PTI leader.

In the general election for PK-71 on July 25, Shah Farman as the winner had secured 17,388 votes while the combined opposition parties were polled 31,382 ballots. He vacated the PK-71 seat when the party leadership nominated him for the prized position of provincial governor.

Another PTI leader in Peshawar told The News that the day Shah Farman was nominated as the governor, some people in the party turned against him. "Perhaps some of the people in the party could see Shah Farman as senior minister and speaker provincial assembly but not as governor. Probably few people know that Shah Farman has the longest association with the party and its chairman Imran Khan and his long commitment prompted Khan to reward him for his years long services," said a PTI leader.

Interestingly, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidate was runner-up in the July 25 general election but he refused to contest the by-election. Two other candidates who remained third and fourth in the general election also avoided contesting the election.

"The PTI candidate didn't lose because of voters. He lost due to conspiracies of some party people as they sponsored people to create problems for Shah Farman's brother," said the party sources.

The PTI got 7,000 less votes in the by-election compared to the general election while there was a decline of 20,000 ballots in the votes obtained by the combined opposition candidate. One PTI dissident Dildar Khan polled 5500 votes in Union Council Matani while another got 1100 ballots in the Passani Union Council. This led to Zulfiqar Khan's defeat.

According to party sources, the defeat has created a "huge gulf of mistrust and hatred" among the senior PTI leaders and if Prime Minister Imran Khan didn't take notice it would cause serious problems for the party in future.

Shah Farman was not the first PTI leader who secured party ticket for his close relative. Before him, former chief minister Pervez Khattak awarded tickets to his brother and son to contest on the two provincial assembly constituencies he vacated.

Both of them won as Pervez Khattak was physically present and ran an active campaign for them. National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and MNA from Dera Ismail Khan Ali Amin Gandapur also secured party tickets for their brothers and helped them win the election.

A neck and neck contest was expected between the PTI candidate Zulfiqar Khan and Awami National Party (ANP)'s Salahuddin Momand, who was backed by all opposition parties. Zulfiqar Khan is a gemstones businessman by profession and it was first time he contested an election.

Salahuddin Momand had quit the PTI in September 2017 and joined the ANP after developing differences with the party over award of party ticket. The ticket was then awarded to Arbab Amir, who won the by-election.