RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) could not launch its planned membership campaign in the Rawalpindi division as it has no party organisations in the two districts of Rawalpindi and Jhelum.

The PTI had planned to activate its workers and supporters from October 15 but due to the suspension of the district organisations on October 8 the membership drive was cancelled.

At present, there is no organisation in the district and the party affairs are being directly managed by the PTI Punjab north chapter.

Rawalpindi and Jhelum without office-bearers, party affairs being managed by Punjab’s north chapter

A senior leader of the PTI told Dawn that it was a normal and traditional practice to active workers and supporters before general elections.

He said all arrangements had been made but the drive did not kick off. Under the plan, he said, all universities in the district of Rawalpindi were also to be covered so that a maximum number of youngsters would be contacted for the party membership. He claimed that many students had contacted the party for membership.

“It is a serious issue that the party is headless in the main district of Rawalpindi from where Imran Khan was elected MNA and plans to contest the next general elections.

He said more than five party members were rejoining the PPP in coming days as they had come to the PTI from the PPP in 2013. He said the party also failed to highlight local issues in the absence of its office-bearers.

“PTI’s public meeting in Attock is scheduled to be held on Monday (today) but no party worker from Rawalpindi will be going there. In the past workers went to such public gatherings in the shape of rallies. But now there is no leader to take out a rally from Rawalpindi.”

He said members of the Provincial Assembly and former office-bearers from Rawalpindi under the leadership of MPA Arif Abbasi held a meeting with PTI Punjab North President Amir Kiani on November 3 and demanded the appointment of new office-bearers.

However, Mr Kiani informed them that the party would not appoint any person to head the district organisation but he would appoint a monitoring committee to manage the affairs.

When contacted, PTI former district president Zahid Kazmi said the membership drive had been stopped as there was no party organisation in the district and seven tehsils as well as the cantonment areas.

“Due to wrong decisions, the PTI failed to win a single seat in the cantonment elections and after this two seats were won in the local government elections in the city and rural areas while the PML-N got a two-third majority,” he said.

Mr Kazmi said the PTI would not get any seat in the coming general elections if the party failed to learn a lesson from its wrong decisions in the past. “There is a need to make the party organisations functional at the district and tehsil level and launch a membership drive,” he said.

He said at present the party had no data on its workers. “After the sit-in in front of Parliament House in 2014, the party failed to give its workers certificates as there was no data available about them,” he said.

MPA Arif Abbasi told Dawn that the membership drive was not launched in the district due to the absence of the party’s local chapter. “There is a dire need to appoint the party head in the district who will contact the workers and launch a membership drive,” he said.

He said apparently the party leadership was not in a mood to make the local chapter functional. “Before the general elections, the party should launch a membership drive to include new workers and acknowledge the services of the old workers,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2017