t appears that better sense has prevailed. Realising that his strategy of empowering non-politicians such as lawyers and social media activists has failed to do much good to him or the party, Imran Khan, the imprisoned founder of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, has decided to empower experienced political leadership in the party to make political decisions, instead of leaving those to some ‘naïve’ people, The News on Sunday has learnt on good authority.

A PTI insider privy to the developments has told TNS on the condition of anonymity, as he is not authorised to speak to the media, “Imran Khan is irked by some of the outcomes of poor decisions taken by inexperienced leaders, such as joining the Sunni Ittehad Council. This decision caused huge damage to the party’s position in the National and Provincial Assemblies.”

“After reviewing his strategy, Khan has decided that political decision should be taken by people like Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Omar Ayub Khan, Asad Qaiser, Ali Muhammad Khan and Hamid Khan.”

The source also said, “Khan feels that the letter written to the International Monetary Fund has damaged the PTI’s image. Khan had directed a party official to write a letter and send it for vetting to three other leaders before dispatching it to the IMF. Instead, the official drafted a letter and dispatched it.”

Khan’s imprisonment has dented the party in every way possible. The PTI was unable to hold intraparty elections by the book before the general elections because experienced leaders like Hamid Khan were unable to communicate with Khan. Poorly planned elections at a time when the PTI was under a strict watch by the Election Commission of Pakistan, deprived it of its election symbol. This proved a disastrous development for the party. Again, Khan was unable to consult party leaders before finalising party tickets. This not only created confusion among voters but also deprived several deserving candidates of the opportunity to contest from the party’s platform.

Despite conviction in three cases, Khan remains a popular leader. However, his imprisonment, some hasty party decisions and irresponsible statements by some of the younger party leaders are tarnishing the PTI’s image.

The party is practically divided into several blocs, each vying for hegemony over the others; each portraying itself as closest to Khan. Before the elections, PTI’s senior vice president Sher Afzal Marwat appeared to allege that PTI chairman Gohar Ali Khan was conspiring against the party. After the elections, he told the media that Khan had removed Gohar from the chairmanship of the party on account of his incompetence and poor performance. For this, he was served a show cause notice by the party.

However, the same day, the PTI released a video showing Marwat and Gohar together in a pleasant mood. “I supported Barrister Gohar as the party chairman,” said Marwat in the video. He also said he didn’t use the word ‘incompetent’ for Gohar. “I want to tell the PTI workers that there is no rift between us. Gohar will continue as the PTI chairman.” Speaking on the occasion, Gohar said, “We should not get into personal conflicts at a time when our leader is in jail.”

On the one hand, Khan‘s policy of bringing lawyers to the front has not proved as effective as might have been imagined. But it has somewhat benefitted the party. A large number of lawyers are in the National and Provincial Assemblies. Police and the district administration avoid using the same stick against lawyers that they use against most political activists. This is because the lawyers’ community stands behind their own. Prominent lawyers such as Sardar Latif Khosa and Salman Akram Raja were arrested by the police during the street protests but were released soon whereas other activists arrested with them spent several days in the lock-ups before being released on bail.

On the communication front, statements attributed to Imran Khan leave many baffled and confused. Whenever a PTI leader comes out of jail after meeting Khan, he projects himself as Khan‘s spokesman and issues a statement. When another comes out, he paints another picture.

The confusion will continue till Imran Khan devises a strategy to streamline party affairs. To address this issue, he is said to have directed the party’s political leaders to take charge. How well the politicians shoulder this responsibility remains to be seen.

The writer is a senior journalist, teacher of journalism, writer and analyst. His X handle: @BukhariMubasher