PTI Central Secretary General Salman Akram Raja holds a press conference on Sunday. SCREEN GRAB
LAHORE:
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is grappling with escalating internal disputes that appear to be rooted in a leadership crisis, with its secretary general emerging as the latest target of criticism from the party.
Amid growing unrest, he has reportedly assured critics that he would request the party’s jailed founder to exonerate him of his charge, according to two party leaders with organizational portfolios, one in Punjab and the other at the Centre.
With the aggressive attitude of PTI’s actual decision-makers bringing the party to a near breaking point, a crisis of confidence has emerged across the party’s ranks.
Several leaders told The Express Pakinomist that resistance was no longer seen as a viable option for the party.
However, confusion remains over whether the option should be abandoned entirely, as some believe the threat of mass resistance must remain intact to provide leverage when the party decides to sit across the table with the powers that be.
These divergent strategic approaches have led many in the party to conclude that General Secretary Salman Akram Raja fell short of expectations, especially given his polite and composed demeanor.
According to a party leader from Punjab, Raja was confronted by some members of an internal group who demanded his resignation over what they described as his inability to lead the party effectively.
Responding to the criticism, the source said Raja assured his detractors that he would take the matter to party founder Imran Khan and request him to bring in someone from the youth to exonerate him from the charge so he could focus on his legal practice, which had suffered due to his political commitments.
The source further claimed that Raja, who enjoys the full support of Aleema Khan, Imran Khan’s sister, has no experience of leading a political party, let alone steering it out of a crisis. “Their plan is legal firefighting, which won’t get the party anywhere,” the source said.
PTI’s central spokesman Sheikh Waqas Akram, however, rejected the idea of any call for the secretary general’s resignation.
Talking to The Express Pakinomist, he said that isolated voices of estranged officials should not be taken as internal disputes, adding that the entire leadership was functioning according to the guidelines of party founder Imran Khan.
A senior party leader and central official supported Sheikh Waqas Akram’s claim that the WhatsApp dispute was an isolated incident.
However, he noted that internally there was sentiment against both the Acting Chairman and the General Secretary, although such demands had not yet been formulated. Acknowledging that Raja’s legal practice had suffered since he joined the party, he said his victims should not be overlooked.
“He is a loyalist and people like him are an asset in any party,” the leader said, adding that Raja lacked the political acumen required to create the much-needed elbow room for the party.
He further claimed that the general secretary himself was “straightjacketed” by Imran Khan’s sisters, who wanted to retain control of party affairs until something went wrong, after which they were quick to shift the burden to the leadership.
He said resistance was no longer an option for the party and those seeking to follow such a course would be doing it a great disservice.
The leadership, he added, did not take Chief Minister KP Sohail Afridi’s announcement of a ‘liberation force’ lightly as they feared it could bring the party back on a collision course with the powers that be.
According to him, this line of thinking led to the idea being presented to management for approval.
He added that Afridi also sought control over the party’s youth force, which is why he floated the idea of creating a parallel body within the party for youth members – a decision he could not take independently.
Another PTI leader claimed that internally the party was not even happy with the control given to Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayin-e-Pakistan (TTAP) as it amounted to sidelining those who had given their “blood and sweat” for the party.
“What benefit did people like Omer Ayub get from all the sacrifices he made for the party?” he asked, noting that despite facing state brutality, Ayub had also been branded a traitor internally.
He said PTI, as a political party, should not function according to social media followers.
