PTI faces rift over new office-bearers in Sindh

Hours after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) central leadership announced the appointments of new provincial and divisional office-bearers, serious differences have surfaced within the party’s provincial ranks, with several key leaders already offering their resignations from their posts, The News has learnt.

Federal minister Asad Umar, who is the PTI’s central general secretary, on Thursday announced the appointments of office-bearers in the party for the Sindh province and its divisions.

However, hours after the announcement, the provincial assembly opposition leader Haleem Adil Sheikh, who was appointed as the party’s provincial senior vice-president in the recent reorganisation process, resigned from his new post.

In a letter to Umar, a copy of which is available with The News, Sheikh said that as the PA opposition leader, his movement across the province keeps him very busy, and so he resigned from his party post.

PTI sources told The News that Ali Junejo, who is already serving as an adviser to the Sindh governor, has also resigned from the post of provincial vice-president. Newly appointed Mirpurkhas Division office-bearers Akbar Ali and Zulfiqar Shah have also offered their resignations. Party sources told The News that Sheikh was unhappy how he and other loyal leaders of the PTI were included in the new organisational set-up of the party in the province and its divisions.

The announcement

A notification signed by Umar announced the new office-bearers for Sindh. Ali Palh and MPA Arsalan Taj were made additional general secretary and information secretary respectively.

Allah Bakhsh Unar, MNA Shakoor Shad, Tahir Shah and Haleem Adil Sheikh were notified as senior vice-presidents, while Parliamentary Secretary for Human Rights Lal Chand Malhi, Ali Junejo, Agha Arsalan, MPA Raja Azhar, Gul Muhammad Rind and MPA Sidrah Imran as vice-presidents. Raja Khan Jakhrani, Zulfiqar Shah and Advocate Lajpat Bheel were notified as deputy general secretaries.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Maritime Affairs Mahmood Moulvi has been appointed as the party’s senior vice-president for Karachi Division, and so have MPA Saeed Afridi and MNA Akram Cheema. Shiraz Ali has been made the additional general secretary.

MPA Shahnawaz Jadoon, Adnan Ismail, Dawa Khan, Jamal Nasir, Mansoor Sheikh and Imran Shah have been notified as vice-presidents, while MPA Riaz Haider, Umair Ahmed, Dr Kabeer, Murad Sheikh, Gohar Khattak, Jansher Junejo and Mushtaq Afridi as deputy general secretaries.

Shahzad Qureshi, Omair Omari, Rabia Azfar and Syma Nadeem have been notified as marketing secretary, events secretary, education secretary and sports secretary respectively.

The party’s central leadership had already made federal minister Ali Zaidi the Sindh president, while MPA Bilal Ghaffar and MNA Saifur Rehman had been made president and general secretary for Karachi Division respectively.

In Larkana Division, Ghali Khan Domki was appointed as the president and Agha Shams as the general secretary. In Mirpurkhas Division, Syed Mumtaz Shah was appointed as the president and Akbar Palli as the general secretary.

In Hyderabad Division, Khawan Bux Junejo was appointed as the president and Wing Commander (retd) Q Mohammad Hakim as the general secretary, while in Nawabshah Division, Inayat Rind and Aman Qazi were appointed as the president and the general secretary respectively.

Long march

In a meeting with the party’s PA members, Zaidi directed them to intensify the preparation of their long march against the provincial government from Ghotki to Karachi on February 26 — a day before the Pakistan Peoples Party’s scheduled long march against the federal government from Karachi to Islamabad.