PTI faces rift over nomination of office-bearers for southern districts

PESHAWAR: The recent nominations of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) activists for certain party positions in southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have divided the party.

Some PTI workers accused State Minister Ali Amin Gandapur of using his influence by giving important slots to his nominees without consulting the party’s regional office-bearers.

South region in KP includes Kohat, Karak, LakkiMarwat, Bannu, Tank, Dera Ismail Khan andHangu, as well as tribal districts such as North Waziristan, South Waziristan, Kurram and Orakzai.

According to PTI sources, the party has “practically been divided in groups in south region due to internal differences among party’s regional leaders”.

PTI chief organiser Saifullah Khan Nyazee on November 16 issued a notification and appointed party members on different positions.

This correspondent has obtained copy of the notification duly signed by Saifullah Khan Nyazee.

As per notification issued by the PTI central secretariat, Shahbaz Gul Shinwari was appointed president for PTI south region, Major (Retd) Sajjad Khattak, senior vice president, Khurram Zeeshan, vice president, Tariq Saeed, vice president, Captain (Retd) Umar Amin, general secretary, Dr Bashir Dawar, additional general secretary, Khalid Khan Kuli, deputy general secretary (Kohat Division), Malik Adnan, deputy general secretary (Bannu Division), Asif Mehsood, deputy general secretary (Dera Ismail Khan), Mohammad Luqman, finance secretary and Col (Retd) Razaullah Khattak, information.

Certain PTI activists in the south region alleged that Ali Amin Gandapur made attempts to influence central party leadership and accommodate his nominees on key positions but could not succeed, though his brother Cap (Retd) Umar Amin was appointed as general secretary of the party for southern region.

However, according to PTI circles, Ali Amin Gandapur allegedly decided to bring his blue-eyed people on key positions in the districts and influenced his brother, Cap Umar Amin to issue their notification on November 18. Its copy is available with The News.

Interestingly,the party cabinet took its oath on Wednesday (November 20), and it was supposed to appoint people on different party positions in the districts.

However, the party general secretary Cap (Retd) Umar Amin issued notification on November 18 and made all appointments for all the 11 districts.

The PTI cabinet members of south region told The News that none of them were consulted before making these appointments and said it has divided the party in many groups.

They alleged that Ali Amin Gandapur was behind it. As per the list, Malik Iqbal is appointed PTI president for Kohat, Azmat Khattak for Karak, Zahoor Shakir for Hangu, Ghazan Jamal for Orakzai tribal district, Naik Mohammad for North Waziristan, Mian Iqbal for Kurram tribal district, Johar Khan for Lakki Marwat, Humayun Khan for Dera Ismail Khan, Irfan Kundi for Tank, Afsar Khan for South Waziristan and Masteerullah Khan for Bannu.

According to sources, the cabinet members after taking oath of their new responsibilities in DI Khan expressed their deep shock over nomination for the districts without their consultations and decided to raise the issue with party chairman Prime Minister Imran Khan and chief organiser Saifullah Khan Nyazee.

“Why were we appointed then if some influential people were supposed to make decisions without even bothering to take the cabinet into confidence,” remarked one cabinet member of the party.

Pleading anonymity, he said they were receiving phone calls from their old dedicated and loyal party activists and were lodging their protest over nominations made by Cap (retd) Umar Amin for the 11 districts.

Ali Amin Gandapur neither answered phone calls nor replied to a voice message sent by this correspondent to his WhatsApp on his cell phone.

However when reached, PTI chief organiser Saifullah Khan Nyazee told The News that he was aware of the issues in the party in the south region of KP.

He said he had spoken to Ali Amin Gandapur about notification regarding appointment of party district presidents and he had agreed to withdraw their nominations if PTI activists in their respective districts opposed them.

“It is an internal issue of the party and we would resolve it amicably,” said the PTI chief organiser.