IN the wee hours on the chilly night of November 26, 2024, on Islamabad’s Srinagar Highway, the former first lady Bushra Bibi stopped to take stock.
At the time, she was leading a charged crowd towards D-Chowk to demand the release of her husband, Imran Khan.
“She was terribly upset,” two senior party figures present on the occasion said of her mood.
Bushra had surged ahead after the dramatic announcement that she would lead the caravan of protesters from Peshawar to D-Chowk.
Party’s internal misgivings with KP CM stem from Nov 26 events, his inability to win reprieve for incarcerated Imran Khan
She was moving lightning speed, but felt there was something amiss, according to those in attendance. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, who was to originally lead the caravan to D-Chowk — was trailing far behind.
And she smelled foul play. Much of what happened at D-Chowk that night has been reported and recorded. But the events that unfolded on November 26 not only deeply polarised the party that still rallies around its incarcerated chief, but has also triggered and intensified a tug of war and jockeying for power between different groups within the PTI.
After the events of that night, a group led by former musician and one-time Imran confidant, the US-based Salman Ahmed, unleashed a torrent of tweets targeting Bushra and blaming her for the entire situation. He was immediately shown the door.
The former first lady however, heaped scorn on Ali Amin for abandoning her at D-Chowk — enough of a cue for the party’s social media warriors to start trolling the chief minister.
Whatever happened in those dark hours before the crackdown began on the PTI caravan continues to reverberate within party circles to this day, spawning conspiracy theories and suspicion.
This is notwithstanding, according to Ali Amin’s supporters, his “heroic action” to pluck Bushra from amidst the chaos and driving her through the Margalla Hills to Mansehra via Abbottabad — a story which may seem like a scene straight out of a Hollywood thriller.
To understand Ali Amin’s current predicament, one needs to go back to August 2024, when he fired his minister for communications over allegations of corruption, following a green-light from the imprisoned party chairman.
The sacked minister, Shakeel Ahmed Khan, has long been known to belong the Atif Khan’s group. A former senior minister and currently the party’s MNA from Mardan, Atif has been a long-time contender for the top executive slot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
No wonder then, that two consecutive chief ministers — Pervez Khattak and Mahmood Khan — were wary of him and did all they could to undercut him.
In fact, Khattak was so incensed with Atif that he had threatened to form a forward bloc if the party chairman chose to appoint him as chief minister — a threat that ultimately led to Mahmood Khan’s ascension to the executive office.
The issue, however, has continued to persist, and was brought to the fore once again when Atif’s man was sacked from the cabinet. Atif Khan and his group of parliamentarians publicly spoke in defence of their colleague, which brought tensions to a head.
But that’s just one bit of the gamut. Those who are closely associated with Ali Amin blame some party figures from the Punjab for poisoning the party founder against him.
This acrimony was witnessed at a core committee meeting, where, according to some who sat through the proceedings, the two sides exchanged barbs after KP objected to being left alone to do the heavy-lifting while Punjab chapter was nowhere to be seen when push came to shove.
But that acrimony, some party insiders say, is just part of a larger issue — Ali Amin’s inability to make any significant headway in their quest for some kind of relief for his jailed leader and his spouse.
The chief minister’s suggestions to convince power brokers to relocate the former prime minister and his wife and place them either under house arrest at their home in Banigala, or at a host of locations in KP, such as the Governor’s House, Nathiagali or the CM House in Peshawar, did not really cut any ice with those who actually wield power in the country.
“Ali Amin has been the main communication bridge between his boss and the all-powerful state institution, but so far he has not been able to show anything tangible to his boss. My guess is the boss’s frustration is growing and so is his [im]patience,” a senior party figure said.
This has been compounded by some party leaders who frequent the jail and find time to colour Imran Khan’s perception of Ali Amin. “This has not helped [the CM],” the party leader said.
“Khan sahib is extremely gullible; he can be easily swayed. He doesn’t have firsthand information, so whoever goes in tells him a different story and … he believes them.”
As the party leader put it, “Ali Amin is caught between a rock and a hard place”, walking an extremely difficult path to please different power centers, not just within his party, but also on the outside.
In fact, it has been a tight-rope walk for the chief minister, from his first day in office, to balance politics with realpolitik.
He must do business with the federal government, as KP is heavily dependent on its resources and the real power brokers.
Government officials say that in the initial few months, Ali Amin struggled to balance between focusing on governance and the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the province, and demands from the hawkish group within the party to launch protest caravans against Islamabad, at times giving marching orders without even bothering to check with him.
“He has done more than he gets credit for”, an official said.
“He has held more cabinet meetings and launched many more initiatives than any of his predecessors, but all his good work is overshadowed by the noise of agitation and protest.”
But while he has faced little to no opposition from the other subdued political parties of the province, who are still nursing their wounds since their humiliating defeat in the last husting, the most challenges Ali Amin has faced emanate from within his own party.
His own party’s social media warriors, who once adored and called him ‘Khan sahib’s tiger’, are now trolling and scolding him. The difficult balancing act that he has been trying to perform seems to be becoming too heavy a burden for his shoulders to bear.
For perhaps the first time in his political career, ever since his entry into power corridors, Ali Amin Gandapur seems to be under pressure. Whether he can deliver for his boss and also maintain the delicate balance required to keep the wheels of his provincial government turning, still remains to be seen.
Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2025
- Desk Reporthttps://foresightmags.com/author/admin/