RAWALPINDI: Just days after the PTI’s victory in Rawalpindi, a tussle has begun between the PTI and Awami Muslim League (AML) over the election in NA-60.

AML President Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has announced that he will field his nephew, former Rawal Town nazim Sheikh Rashid Shafique, but local PTI leaders wish to field their own party candidate for the seat.

The election was postponed in NA-60 after the PML-N candidate, Hanif Abbasi, was convicted by a Control of Narcotics Substances court in the ephedrine case.

While AML leader wants to field his nephew for the seat, local PTI say party should accommodate a worker

Sheikh Rashid, who was contesting two National Assembly seats and won in NA-62, said he wanted to field his nephew in NA-60, which was given to the AML under a seat adjustment agreement.

But PTI leaders and workers said party chairman Imran Khan had supported Sheikh Rashid in his bid to win the seat from Rawalpindi, and after becoming MNA he should leave the seat to the PTI so it can accommodate a worker.

Two names are currently being circulated between party workers for the NA-60 election: former district nazim Raja Tariq Mehboob Kiani and former MPA Arif Abbasi.

A senior party leader told Dawn there is resentment among party workers in the district after the joining of Raja Sagheer, an independent candidate from Kahuta who defeated the PML-N’s Raja Mohammad Ali - son of PML-N’s leader of the house in the Senate Raja Zafarul Haq - and PTI’s Ghulam Murtaza Satti.

“Although the PTI candidate Ghulam Murtaza Satti contacted the election commission for a recount, the independent candidate joined the PTI which spread anger among workers; the case in Rawalpindi is the same where Sheikh Rashid wants one more seat,” he said.

He said local leaders and workers were planning to protest outside Banigala in the coming days.

“Local leaders met at a local wedding hall owned by a PTI leader and decided to press the party to give the seat to a senior PTI leader instead of the AML,” the party leader said.

A party worker from Dhoke Khabba, Imran Khalid, said the seat should be given to a PTI leader from Rawalpindi who workers can contact easily if they have problems that need resolving.

He said Sheikh Rashid would be busy in the National Assembly, but the presence of the party’s own person would boost workers’ morale and they would not hesitate to go to their office or home with a problem.

“The party supported Sheikh Rashid in a seat, but now it is the PTI’s right to get a seat from Rawalpindi as well. It will be good for the party’s future to unite workers,” Tariq Mehmood, a party worker from Dhoke Chiraghdin, said.

He said PTI workers and leaders had worked hard for the party’s victory and brought about change with their votes.

“The party leadership should respect the party workers to field the person of their choice,” he said.

A local party leaders, Raja Zeeshan, from Khanna Road said the PTI had ignored Arif Abbasi and given a ticket to Chaudhry Adnan instead, at the request of Sheikh Rashid. Now, the party should give him a chance in NA-60.

Party workers need to be accommodate in election decisions, he said, adding that Sheikh Rashid’s nephew is not a known personality among PTI workers.

However, Sheikh Rashid has insisted that the decision on a candidate would be made by Imran Khan, in consultation with Sheikh Rashid.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2018