Alleged intra-party differences: Senator Mushtaq quits as JI KP chapter chief

PESHAWAR: Provincial President of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan on Tuesday tendered his resignation from the party position.

Central ameer of the party, Sirajul Haq, accepted his resignation and named the central deputy president of the party, Prof Mohammad Ibraheem Khan, as acting provincial ameer.

In his message posted on social media, Mushtaq Ahmad Khan stated that he had requested the central leadership of the party to relieve him of the office as provincial president of the party soon after his election for the third consecutive term of three years in October 2021.

However, his request was turned down, asking him to continue at least till the local government elections.

Now that the local government elections have been held in the province, he reminded the party leadership of his request which was accepted and he was relieved from the office of the party provincial president.

Senator Mushtaq said now he would be able to perform his obligations as a senator in a fitting manner. However, certain reports suggested that there were serious differences within the party, which led to the resignation of the provincial president.

Sources in the party told The News that formal grouping had been made in JI, which otherwise was known for its discipline.

They said that formal work had been done for the promotion of Mushtaq Ahmad Khan in the party on the basis of his impressive speeches in the Senate of Pakistan.

The sources objected to the timing of the resignation of the provincial president, which they said should have been accepted long before.

After the 2018 general elections, the JI had formed a committee under a senior party leader Asadullah Bhutto to look into the reasons behind the humiliating defeat of the party in the elections. The committee in its detailed report had mentioned all the reasons that had led to the party’s defeat in the election and had made some recommendations. The most serious recommendation was that of the removal of Mushtaq Ahmad Khan from the office of the provincial president.

However, he had preempted the possible removal by tendering resignation from the office, which was rejected by the central head of the party, Sirajul Haq.

Since then, the series of intra-party invisible differences started getting serious. Now, according to party sources, a formal Mushtaq Group has been invisibly created in the party and members loyal to Mushtaq Ahmad Khan have been placed at all important positions in the districts of the province.

Prof Mohammad Ibraheem Khan is among the senior-most leaders of the party. He has already served as provincial chief of the party several times apart from being a member of the Senate of Pakistan on the party ticket.

The central chief of the party has the authority to name anyone as the provincial head of the party. However, as per the party’s traditions ‘Istiswab’ (plebiscite) is made for the purpose.

Ballots are distributed among the 13,000 members of the party in the province through the postal service and whoever gets the majority of ballots is declared the party’s provincial chief.

The central chief of the party has the power to name anyone else contrary to the one chosen by the party members. But normally the central chief does not exercise this power. However, this tradition is followed in normal circumstances.

The current situation is altogether different. An elected president has resigned just seven months after his election.

Now it is up to the central leadership of the party to hold fresh istiswab or name Prof Ibraheem as president for the remaining tenure.