PTI reels from post-rout turmoil

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s final protest, which aturned into a fiasco, began taking its toll on the leadership, as its Secretary General Salman Akram Raja Thursday tendered his resignation, citing personal reasons.

Following the unexpected end to the protest, there were indications that senior party leaders would meet their party founder Imran Khan in Adiala jail to brief him about the failure of the event marking the final call.

“We need time and more deliberations before we arrive at the wrong moves that landed us in this undesirable position,” a senior PTI leader told this correspondent. It is being speculated that more resignations can come within the next 24 hours, as no one is prepared to take responsibility for the decision to go to D-Chowk instead of Sangjani, located on the outskirts of the federal capital.

Likewise, PTI-backed MNA of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) Sahibzada Hamid Raza also stepped down as member of the party’s core committee and could bow out as member of the National Assembly as well. Amid reports of installation of a new chairman and secretary general, incumbent Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan took to his social media account to clarify that no such development had taken place.

Salman Akram’s resignation came at a time when strong voices from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been raised about the role of party leadership in Punjab on the occasion of protest, which was launched on November 24 on the call of founder chairman Imran Khan. Salman Akram was made the secretary general of the party less than three months back.

Former provincial minister from the KP and senior PTI leader Shaukat Yousafzai was among those who had raised questions about the party’s Punjab leadership after the protest. He had said that he was very sorry about the D-Chowk incident and wondered why the leadership of PTI Punjab was absent from the protest. He had also reportedly asked will Bushra Bibi run the party or will the leadership run it?

Reacting to Yousafzai’s statement, Salman Akram had said in his statement that Tuesday was also the worst day in the history of PTI. He remarked, “People ask why we could not reach, we were protesting in Lahore. All roads were closed for us, how could we reach. The entire Lahore was turned into a prison.”

It was learnt that Salman Akram was entrusted with the responsibility of taking a convoy from Lahore to Islamabad. After the road was blocked, he planned to protest in Lahore.

In a video message, Raja said that they objected to us as to why we did not reach Islamabad in protest. “Look! We met in Lahore, I spent the whole day on the streets of Lahore city, there it was common knowledge that if even 10, 20 or 30 people gathered, they would be lathi-charged and they would be arrested.”

Meanwhile, Sahibzada Hamid Raza said that he was not involved in the decision to go to the D-Chowk. “It was being said that people did not leave Punjab, so I resigned.”

Speaking on a private TV channel show, Hamid Raza said that he had some reservations and there may be differences of opinion on strategy. “I was with the PTI as an ally before, I will remain so in the future. I was not involved in the decision to go to D-Chowk,” he maintained.

He explained the reason for Salman Akram’s resignation and said that he resigned because he was criticised, but he should not have resigned.

Hamid Raza clarified that the proposal to make Asad Qaiser the chairman and Ali Muhammad Khan the secretary general of PTI was not under consideration. “We have spoken to Senator Ali Zafar and he denied this. No one met the founder of PTI today [Thursday],” he explained.

Separately, Yousafzai slammed the party leadership over the mismanagement of the Islamabad march and feared due to the party leadership’s blunders, hardships of incarcerated party founder Imran Khan were mounting. “All the responsibility (for this) is on the central leadership,” he said in a statement and asked that if the PTI founder gave instruction to hold the sit-in at Sangjani, then why it was ignored.

Meanwhile, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan confirmed the resignation of Salman Akram but rejected certain media reports of installation of Asad Qaiser as the new party chairman and Ali Muhammad Khan as secretary general. Asad Qaiser himself also denied any such development. Separately, party’s Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram clarified about the media reports concerning the change of chairman and secretary general. He said Imran Khan did not remove the chairman and secretary general.

Our correspondent adds: On Thursday, no meetings were held with Imran Khan at Adiala jail despite it being the scheduled day for party leaders to meet the former prime minister. Jail authorities confirmed that no PTI leaders arrived at the facility for the meeting.

According to jail officials, PTI leader Salman Akram Raja contacted them by phone, expressing his wish to meet Imran, but his request was denied. Similarly, Imran Khan’s lawyer, Faisal Chaudhry, submitted a formal request to the jail superintendent for an immediate meeting with the PTI founder. However, sources within the jail revealed that Imran is currently not in the custody of jail authorities but is under physical remand with the Rawalpindi police. As a result, any requests for meetings must be directed to the New Town Police Station, which now holds the authority to approve or deny such visits.