RAWALPINDI: It appears that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has not managed to restructure the party before the local government elections in Islamabad and Punjab and rifts within local leadership are widening.

MNA Asad Umer has been put in charge of organisation in urban areas and Sardar Azhar Tariq and Chaudhry Ilyas Meharban are responsible for the rural areas. In Rawalpindi Raja Rashid Hafeez has been appointed to oversee organisation in urban areas while Raja Majid is in charge for rural areas.

A senior party leader, requesting anonymity, told Dawn that the division between urban and rural areas is in violation of the party’s vision. He said that after the sit-ins outside the parliament last year, many new people came from Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) to join the party.

“The city organisations bifurcated into two groups in order to accommodate these new members,” he said.

The party leader said that in Rawalpindi, the party MPAs are already divided into two factions, one led by Sadaqat Abbasi and another made up of new comers from PML-Q.

Many old members resentful of newcomers

He said the situation in Islamabad was better as old party leaders and workers have been seen campaigning for the upcoming local government elections in the federal capital.

Meanwhile, in Rawalpindi and adjoining districts many old workers and leaders are resentful of the newcomers.

“Chaudhry Sarwar and Sardar Sabtain Khan do not know the party constitution and its organisations and are incapable of restructuring it. However, if the party is to be restructured, Shah Mahmood Qureshi is more capable of doing it than others,” he said.

In November 2014, a scuffle took place in the PTI camps at the sit-in outside the parliament and Imran Khan’s nephew was beaten up by some party members. The party leader said that while Raja Rashid Hafeez and Raja Majid’s memberships were suspended after the incident, they have now been made organisers in rural and urban areas.

“In Murree, old party leader Khursheed Abbasi is feeling sidelined because Sardar Saleem, who left PML-Q to join PTI is being given more importance. In Gujar Khan, Farhat Faheem Bhatti who contested 2013 election on a PTI ticket was ignored and in Rawalpindi Cantonment and rural areas of NA-53, Retired Colonel Ajmal, who ran in 2013, was also ignored,” the party member said.

Another senior PTI leader and MPA, who requested anonymity, opined that the party’s performance in the cantonment elections would be repeated in the local government elections in Rawalpindi if restructuring and reorganisation does not take place.

“Many old party workers refused to come out for the cantonment elections due to internal rifts. The PML-N’s vote bank has not grown since the 2013 elections; its just that PTI supporters simply did not cast their votes,” the MPA said.

When PTI MPA Arif Abbasi was contacted, he agreed that there was dire need to improve party organisation to achieve better results.

“People support the PTI but it is the local organisation’s job to bring supporters out of their homes on the day of the elections,” he said.

The party, he said, should be restructured within the provincial assembly constituencies rather than the National Assembly constituencies and this could also bridge the rural/urban gap within the party.

PTI Punjab North former secretary general Zahid Kazmi told Dawn that the structuring of the party organisation would be complete soon.

“However, the present set up will not affect the results in the local government election,” he said.

He said the party would be organised at the tehsil level and run by those who contested in the general elections and received over 20 per cent votes.

“Some old party workers may be resentful over the restructuring of the party but it is an internal matter and would soon be resolved amicably,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2015

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