ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan again warned senior party member retired Justice Wajihuddin Ahmad on Tuesday against hurting the party’s interests with his “unwarranted statements”.

In a strongly worded three-page letter addressed to Justice Ahmad, the PTI chairman said that so far he had ignored his (Justice Ahmad) pronouncements out of respect. “However, my fist commitment is to PTI and I simply cannot allow you or anyone else to damage it by transgressing the limits of your mandate. I respect you as an elder but no-one can overstep his mandate or authority.”

The PTI chairman says he has dissolved the party’s election tribunal, but Justice Ahmad insists that he continues to be its head and every now and then issues statements against senior party leaders.

“Your (Justice Ahmad) pronouncements since dissolution of the election tribunal have encouraged opportunists within the party and those who were expelled for valid reasons to exploit the situation and settle personalised vendettas against party leaders and may lead to undermining the party’s public standing and provide pretext to our political opponents causing growing concern amongst a vast number of party workers,” Mr Khan said in the letter.

The PTI chairman dissolved the election tribunal in April and assured Justice Ahmad of implementing the recommendations the latter had made after investigating cases of rigging allegedly committed during intra-party elections.

Following the tribunal’s recommendations, Mr Khan had in the last week of June disbanded the entire organisational structure of the PTI and replaced it with organisers at central and provincial levels.

But in his response, Justice Ahmed rejected the party’s decision to appoint temporary organisers at the provincial and central levels and maintained that most of the PTI’s top leaders had been elected through a flawed intra-party election.

The latest outburst by the PTI chairman, party insiders confided to Dawn, was linked to reports that Justice Ahmad was mulling over the option to approach the Election of Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against senior party leaders.

“The PTI leadership has come to know that unsatisfied with the leadership over the implementation of his recommendations, Justice Ahmad is thinking to invoke the ECP against senior party leaders for committing violations in the intra-party elections which may have serious long-term repercussions,” a well-connected party office-bearer told Dawn. Mr Khan’s letter was a pre-emptive measure, he added.

In the letter, Mr Khan repeatedly referred to Justice Ahmad’s recommendations which he claimed that as party head he had duly implemented and now after delivering his final verdict the tribunal ceased to exist.

“Having accepted the findings on the in intra-party elections and having moved to implement the recommendations by your tribunal, I as the chairman and appointing authority of the tribunal, dissolved the tribunal as its mandate and object had been fulfilled and achieved respectively. Unfortunately, you continued to pass orders on behalf of the defunct tribunal (which had ceased to exist) on matters that were outside the tribunal’s mandate,” the PTI chief said.

He also questioned juridical status of the party’s election tribunal which Justice Ahmad headed and continued to argue that until all recommendations were implemented nobody could dissolve it.

Mr Khan in his letter pointed fingers at some of the unnamed expelled party members and accused Justice Ahmad of acting on their whims and wishes to harm the party’s interest.

In the concluding paragraphs, he said: “As chairman of the party I am now formally requesting you (Justice Ahmad) to immediately refrain from issuing any more pronouncements on behalf of the defunct election tribunal. I sincerely hope that you will accept this request in the same spirit of goodwill and good faith that I am making it. I assure you that I will continue to take all steps necessary to ensure that my work and struggle for the party is not undermined.”

Justice Ahmad wasn’t available for comments.

ADVISORY COUNCIL: Meanwhile, PTI’s central party organiser and general secretary Jahanghir Tareen announced on Tuesday a new 69-member central advisory council of the party.

Mr Tareen was quoted as saying in a statement that Imran Khan had approved the setting up of the advisory council which would meet on Thursday.

DJ BUTT ISSUE: If Justice Ahmad wasn’t enough to ruffle feathers of the senior party leaders, DJ Butt, who provided services of sound system to the PTI during its 126-day sit-in Islamabad, was in the news over the past couple of days. Mr Butt claimed that the PTI was yet to clear his millions of rupees of payments as charges of the sound system.

Addressing a press conference, the PTI information secretary said the issue had been resolved amicably. Mr Butt was also present on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2015

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