RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) local leaders filed their nomination papers for the NA-60 by-election and decided on Sunday to approach the party leadership to give ticket to one of them instead of Sheikh Rashid’s nephew.

The PTI has decided to give ticket to Sheikh Rashid Shafique for the by-election on the NA seat vacated by his uncle Sheikh Rashid. The by-election is scheduled to be held on Oct 14.

As many as 11 local leaders of the ruling PTI have submitted their nomination papers.

The candidates, including former MPA Arif Abbasi, Musadaq Ghuman, former PTI city president Chaudhry Mohammad Asghar, Ayzaz Asif Malik, retired Major Anees Sultan, Javed Iqbal Satti, Zaheer Awan, Qaisar Mirdad, Mir Ali Dad and Aftab Qureshi, on Sunday held a meeting at a local hotel.

After three hours, the candidates agreed on a three point agenda for meeting with PTI’s Additional General Secretary Arshad Dar on Monday.

A senior party leader told Dawn that the local leaders wanted to get back the ticket from Sheikh Rashid and had formed the group for this purpose. He said the party would face problems in coming days if it did not settle the matter.

In a joint statement issued after the meeting, they said the PTI workers had decided to force the party leadership to select a candidate from among them as they would not accept the award of ticket to anyone outside the party, especially to the nominee of Sheikh Rashid.

They said the PTI had been against such kind of politics in the country and always raised voice against political families who did not allow others to come to the mainstream politics.

After the meeting, former MPA Arif Abbasi told Dawn that the local leaders had decided to inform the party leadership about their reservations. He said the local leaders also decided to hold a meeting with the additional secretary general of the PTI.

He said all the candidates were ready to withdraw their nomination papers in favour of a PTI worker instead of an outsider.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2018