SIALKOT: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leaders Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan and Chaudhry Ameer Husain have brought their differences to the public, both vowing to defeat each other despite being in the same party.

When the party awarded ticket for NA-72, Sialkot-I, to former PPP minister Dr Awan, former National Assembly speaker Mr Husain rejected the party decision and announced contesting the poll as an independent candidate.

Dr Awan says she is not much bothered about Mr Husain’s opposition to her.

PML-N candidate for the constituency Chaudhry Armughan Subhani is likely to benefit from the PTI’s internal conflicts.

Dr Awan told reporters Mr Husain was harming the PTI vote bank in the constituency. She said that Mr Husain lived most of the time away from the constituency and that he did politics of self interests only. She said Mr Husain raised objections to her nomination papers, as he was trying to oust her from the poll battle.

Besides Mr Husain, Dr Awan is facing challenges from another party colleague – former district nazim Mian Naeem Javaid – who is also contesting as an independent candidate from the constituency.

The constituency has a swing vote. In 2002, Mr Husain as a PML-Q candidate was elected MNA from here. In 2008, PPP’s Dr Awan won the seat while PML-N’s Subhani stood victorious.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2018