PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) central and provincial leaders have abandoned the workers in the much-hyped protest against the US drone strikes, exhibiting a complete lack of interest in the ongoing sit-ins.
Not a single PTI leader, central or provincial, has so far joined workers at the protest camps set up in four districts, including Peshawar. The protest that entered ninth day on Monday has blocked a key ground supply line to Nato forces in Afghanistan.

The blockade has great national and international significance, but the PTI leaders have chosen not to join it, giving no reason for their continued absence from the protest.

The workers are left to handle such a significant protest, which points to a lack of commitment by the PTI leaders, particularly Imran Khan, who launched the campaign with great pomp and show on November 23. After the Peshawar rally that launched the campaign to block supplies for Nato troops in Afghanistan, Imran Khan did not come to Peshawar or join the sit-in in any district. Other central leaders too have stayed away from the protest.

Most provincial leaders, if not all, are part of the government and cannot participate in the protest as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has distanced itself from the blockade of Nato supplies. This again underlines the importance of separation of government and party offices. Currently, most of the PTI leaders simultaneously occupy the party and government offices, a fact that often makes them the subject of criticism.

PTI provincial president Asad Qaiser is speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and general secretary Shaukat Yousafzai is a cabinet member. Thus, the provincial leadership’s participation in the sit-ins is almost impossible

The central leadership has also no plans to sit in these protest camps this week, according to PTI’s provincial information secretary Ishtiaq Urmar. “The central leaders do take interest in the sit-ins. Imran Khan sometimes asks me through messages and I inform him,” he said. “But none of the central leaders has plans to participate in the sit-in this week,” he added.

He said most of the provincial leaders were cabinet members and the provincial government had yet not taken any decision to join the protest.

The leaders’ failure to join the sit-ins with workers is diminishing their importance. Media is losing interest in it and workers are becoming less enthusiastic. They don’t come to the camp at the Ring Road before 10am, allowing an opportunity to Nato trucks to have more than half of the day to pass through Peshawar. At night, workers abandon the camp.

The PTI and Jamaat-e-Islami workers continued to stop trucks and check their shipment documents on Monday to find Nato containers for the ninth straight day. They forced a container-laden truck to turn back as it was allegedly taking goods for Nato troops.

“The sit-in’s importance is not diminishing,” said Younas Zaheer, general secretary of the PTI Peshawar chapter. “We are not inviting leaders because they attract a huge crowd which we can hardly handle,” he argued.

A PTI worker Malik Tahir Raees and former provincial minister of the Jamaat-e-Islami Kashif Azam were Monday booked on the charge of breaking seal of a container. However, they were not arrested.

Younas Zaheer said he had set 12pm Tuesday as deadline for the police to quash the first information report against the two workers or else the protesters would close the Ring Road to traffic.

Of Malala Day and silence of PTI government

PESHAWAR: The provincial government dominated by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chose to remain indifferent on Friday when the United Nations celebrated the 16th birthday of Malala Yousafzai, a Swat girl shot in the head and critically wounded by Taliban last year. Many people saw this lack of interest another attempt by the Imran Khan-led PTI to please Taliban, and censured the party for being ‘afraid’ of the militants.

“They [leaders of PTI] are afraid even to utter Taliban’s name in a condemnatory statement. And tribute to Malala would have been condemnation of Taliban,” said Nighat Orakzai, a Pakistan People’s Party lawmaker in the provincial assembly. “Taliban-fearing PTI KP government doesn’t have guts to celebrate Girls Education Day to praise a daughter of [the] soil, Malala,” tweeted one Asad Qureshi.

The world leaders hailed Malala’s struggle and described her ‘the bravest girl in the world.’ British Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted that Malala delivered “a powerful message.” But, her countrymen and her province’s government led by PTI could not find a single word to praise this icon.

The provincial government did not hold a single function to pay tribute to the young girl who was targetted for speaking up for girls’ education and opposing Taliban in the Taliban-ravaged Swat valley. The government functionaries did not even issue a statement in favour of Malala and her struggle as she received standing ovation from the Youth Assembly for her courage and the words she delivered there.

“A strong and positive message should have gone to the world from this province in favour of the brave Malala,” Nighat Orakzai said. “But we sent a negative message that we are supporters of Taliban, that we will not talk against them and that we will not condemn them,” she added, describing Malala “our daughter.”

She said PTI government was not serious in fighting terrorism. She recalled that a minister trivialised the terrorism threat that had taken lives of thousands of soldiers and civilians by saying that hepatitis was a bigger threat than terrorism.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government version could not be taken as spokesman Shuakat Yousazai’s cellphone was switched off. However, a minister who requested to stay anonymous said the government did not have any idea about the Malala Day as it had not been approached to mark the day. He said he was not mandated to offer official viewpoint of the government about its policy regarding Malala. To a question, he said the provincial government could not disown her as the national icon even if it would want to do so.

The PTI government in KP was not alone in ignoring Malala Day. There was a complete blackout of Malala Day in Pakistan at the government level, which many said shamed them. The federal government in Islamabad is run by Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N which is also accused of having soft corner for militants.

People through social media in Pakistan condemned the federal and provincial governments for blacking out Malala Day. A tweet from Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif said Malala’s speech was for ‘global consumption.’ He was criticised for the tweet, which forced him to delete it.

Afrasiab Khattak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president of the Awami National Party, tweeted that he couldn’t see the Pakistan delegation at the UN when Malala was speaking to the youth. “Interestingly, one couldn’t see any member of Pakistan’s diplomatic team at [the] UN yesterday. Had they boycotted the event? Any information on this?” his tweet said.

Imran Khan might have realised that they had ignored Malala and tried to do some damage-control as he dropped a message on Twitter on Saturday evening to praise her. “Malala’s courage and commitment to the cause of education, especially girls, is admirable,” he said. The message was followed by rhetoric. “PTI government in KP is paying special attention to education needs of girls and extra facilities for women teachers.”

ANP was the only political party that held ceremonies in Peshawar and in Malala’s hometown, Mingora, to mark the day. Malala was shot when ANP was in power, but it defended the teen and never showed reluctance in taking on the Taliban. 

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