ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) activists continued to protest the distribution of party tickets outside chairman Imran Khan’s Banigala residence on Sunday, despite an announcement of the constitution of reconciliatory committees by the party.

Dozens of PTI workers protested on Saturday and Sunday, demanding party tickets for their groups.

On Saturday, former PTI candidate for NA-59, retired Lt Col Ajmal Raza, and his supporters protested outside Imran Khan’s residence against the party’s decision to award a party ticket to Ghulam Sarwar Khan to contest the elections from Taxila and Rawalpindi.

Committee formed to sort out differences, says party’s spokesman

On Sunday, party workers from NA-74 protested against the party leadership for ignoring retired Maj Gen Noor Hussain for the National Assembly seat.

Ali Abbas, a party worker, said the workers were protesting the award of a ticket to Barrister Mansur Sarwar instead of Mr Hussain, who he called the main candidate for NA-74.

Dozens of Mr Hussain’s supporters were present outside Mr Khan’s residence during iftar as well.

There were also protesters called for a ticket for Khan Bahadar Dogor for PP-100, and protesters said party workers from provincial constituencies protested during the day for the party leadership to revise the ticket distribution mechanism to accommodate their leaders as well.

They protesters raised slogans in favour of their candidates and demanded that Mr Khan intervene.

“In NA-74, the party leadership ignored the real leader, who has been running the party’s affairs in this constituency for years,” said PTI worker Mohammad Asif.

PTI Information Secretary Fawad Chaudhry, when contacted, said a reconciliatory committee has been formed to sort out the differences that had emerged from the award of party tickets.

He said there were such issues in 10pc of constituencies, and such differences were expected since it was not possible for the party to accommodate all the aspiring candidates.

One of the main issues among party workers from a number of constituencies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been the PTI leadership’s decision to award tickets to people who have joined the party recently, after leaving the PPP and PML-N.

Local party leader Syed Shahid Gilani, an aspiring candidate for NA-61 (Rawalpindi), also held a press conference against the party leadership for ignoring him while awarding tickets.

According to party sources, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed from the Awami Muslim League had initially convinced Imran Khan to contest the elections from NA-61, but opposition from the party’s Islamabad chapter to the party decision to field Punjab north president Amir Kayani from NA-53 forced Mr Khan to contest the elections from Islamabad and leave NA-61 to Mr Kayani.

This in turn caused Mr Gilani and his supporters to denounce the party’s decision to field Mr Kayani over Mr Gilani. Mr Gilani is a former general secretary of PTI Rawalpindi and was awarded a ticket for the last gene ral election, but he was unable to contest the seat in 2013 due to problems with his nomination papers.

Mr Gilani announced that he will contest the election as a candidate for the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah to protest the party’s decision to nominate a candidate who has no roots in the constituency.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2018