More bad blood among PTI’s KP cadres – Pakistan

PESHAWAR / SWABI: Infi­ghting within the Pakis­tan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) fur­ther intensified on Friday with two more leaders calling for an inquiry against Khyber Pakhtun­khwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur for terming them “conspirators”.

Currently, a tug of war is going on between KP assembly speaker Babar Saleem Swati and Azam Khan Swati, both from Mansehra district, while former KP minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra has locked horns with the party’s internal accountability committee.

On Friday, former spea­ker of the National Assembly Asad Qaiser and MNA Shahram Khan Tarakai demanded the party leadership hold an inquiry into a recent statement by the KP chief minister, made during a podcast.

While responding to a question about not awarding provincial assembly tickets to Mr Qaiser and former KP ministers Muhammad Atif Khan and Mr Tarakai, the KP chief minister had stated that Imran Khan had instructed him to not award them tickets as they were “conspirators”.

Qaiser, Tarakai take exception to CM’s ‘conspirator’ label, demand inquiry

On Monday, Mr Qaiser and Mr Tarakai, both of whom belong to Swabi district, took to social media to express their angst over the chief minister’s statement and asked the party leadership to conduct an inquiry into the claim.

Mr Qaiser, in a message shared on social media, demanded the party leadership conduct an inquiry into the chief minister’s statement.

“I demand from the central leadership of the party to conduct a thorough investigation into the recent statement of KP chief minister and the statement of chairman Imran Khan in this regard should be brought before the nation.”

He said that they reserved the right to respond to the CM’s statement, but in the current complicated situation, it is necessary for the country and PTI founder chairman Imran Khan to avoid such things.

“At this time, all our attention should be focused on the release of Imran Khan and other innocent prisoners. They do not want to weaken the struggle for the release of Imran Khan by inflaming the internal affairs of the party through unnecessary statements,” he said.

Mr Qaiser said: ’The chief minister should concentrate all his energies on the restoration of good governance and law and order in the province and the struggle for the release of Imran Khan and other innocent prisoners.“

Also, Mr Tarakai in a social media post demanded inquiry into the matter. He said he reserved the right to respond to the chief minister’s statement; however, he added, such a course of action would damage the party in the current situation.

He said all conspiracies would fail if they focus on strengthening the party and on release of the party founder.

“All efforts to weaken Khan Sahib and the party will fail. A leader keeps people together, does not divide them for personal ego or desire,” Mr Tarakai said.

He maintained that their first goal was Mr Khan’s release.

However, MNA Muhammad Atif Khan, president of party’s Peshawar region chapter, adopted a conciliatory tone. In a social media post, he denied making any statement against the chief minister.

“Fake news is circulating regarding a statement associated to me, I haven’t given any response till now to Ali Amin,” Mr Khan noted in a post on X.

PTI’s KP president MNA Junaid Akbar also in a social media post denied making any statement against speaker Babar Saleem Swati and CM Gandapur. He said reports circulating in this regard on social media were “fabricated”.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2025