Ticket to Gul Bacha for NA-1 splits PTI

by Delawar Jan

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s decision to award ticket of NA-1 Peshawar to Gul Bacha for the upcoming by-elections have fuelled differences within the party as other aspirants vowed to contest against him.

Almost all the PTI leaders who had applied for the ticket say that Gul Bacha is an Afghan national, an allegation he denies. Awarding ticket to a ‘controversial’ activist is likely to affect the party’s performance in NA-1 where PTI Chairman Imran Khan secured 90,500 votes. It will be difficult for PTI to counter charges against Gul Bacha levelled by leaders from its own party. The parties that are contesting against PTI will probably use this issue to dent Imran Khan’s party.

Zafar Khattak, an aspirant for NA-1, said PTI workers would not vote for a ‘Kabuli,’ a word used for Afghan refugees. “If the party did not consider me for the ticket, we are determined to contest against this Kabuli,” he said. “And in this fight, PTI workers are with us,” he claimed.

Party leaders Salim Jan Khan, Samad Mursalin and Zafar Khattak applied for the ticket along with Gul Bacha. The party awarded ticket to Gul Bacha that infuriated the other candidates. “Yes, the party allotted the ticket to me,” Gul Bacha confirmed to The News.

Samad Mursalin also said PTI voters would not vote for ‘an Afghan.’ He added that the people of Peshawar would not support a person who did not belong to the city. “Awarding ticket to him is a wrong decision and PTI leaders who have made it would be responsible for it,” he said.

The annoyed leaders seems determined to contest election as independent candidates in order to record protest against the decision and to defeat Gul Bacha. Zafar Khattak said he would contest election as an independent candidate if the party did not change its decision of fielding Gul Bacha. “Chief Minister Pervez Khattak [who is also party’s central secretary general] has made it a matter of ego,” he said. “No one is listening to our demands in the party,” he complained.

Samad Mursalin also indicated to contest against Gul Bacha as an independent candidate. “We will take a course that the party workers will propose,” he said. Mursalin is being described by workers as a loyal PTI activist, who had contested election in 1997 on PTI ticket.

He claimed he still enjoyed support of 14 union council organisations out of 24 in NA-1 that had proposed him for the party ticket, but the PTI leadership did not pay attention to it. He also expressed dismay at the attitude of the party leaders who did not allow his supporters to meet Imran Khan in Islamabad.

“They told the workers to leave the party if they did not agree with the party decision,” he said.The disgruntled leaders said PTI was destined to lose the seat if the ticket was not withdrawn from Gul Bacha. “Mark my words that we are going to lose this seat for sure if Gul Bacha is fielded,” Zafar Khattak said.

A group of five, three in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and two in Islamabad, would be responsible for the party defeat in NA-1. “Pervez Khattak, Asad Qaiser and Saifullah Niazi will be held accountable for defeat in NA-1 because they gave unjust favour to Gul Bacha,” he added.

The PTI’s Gul Bacha will face the Awami National Party’s Ghulam Ahmad Bilour. Until defeat from Imran Khan, Bilour was considered almost undefeatable on NA-1 as he had won against the likes of Benazir Bhutto. Defeat from Imran Khan with a huge margin suggested as if he had lost support in his traditional constituency in Peshawar. Mursalin said PTI’s wrong decision has increased Bilour’s chances of winning the by-polls. “The PTI would repent the decision after the election,” he warned. He claimed majority of voters, up to 80 per cent, were conveying to him that they would not vote for an outsider.

Gul Bacha knows internal wrangling could minimise his chances to win the seat. He said the party had planned to make a committee to win over the disgruntled leaders. “The chief minister will make the committee comprised of MPAs to win back the support of party workers,” he said.

He had already launched election campaign and hopes to win. He said the party had 800 ‘Tabdeeli Razakar’ in NA-1 and other teams to participate in electioneering. “I have run campaign for Imran Khan in NA-1, and I know how to lead the election drive,” Gul Bacha said.


http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-24102-Ticket-to-Gul-Bacha-for-NA-1-splits-PTI