SWABI: As Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s key leaders have long been absent from the scene, the party finds it difficult to launch an effective election campaign in Swabi district.

Sources in the party told Dawn on Monday that PTI had won majority of seats in the 2013 elections, and in 2018 it had emerged victorious from all the seven national and provincial assembly constituencies in the district, dominating the district politics for nearly a decade, but it no longer held that sway, especially after the May 9 incidents.

The sources said PTI had two major concerns that the elections won’t be fair and free and their key leaders won’t be able to contest the polls.

They said Shahram Khan Tarakai, the former provincial minister, had not surfaced since May 9 incidents, and his family members were also no longer visible. They added that in the 2018 elections, Shahram’s one uncle had won a National Assembly constituency, another provincial assembly seat, and he himself had won a provincial assembly seat. They said Shahram was a dominant figure in the party in Swabi.

The sources said former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser had also been arrested, and only Abdul Karim, former adviser to chief minister on industry, was in the field here.

They said absence of leading figures had frustrated the workers, who admitted that in the present scenario, the PTI leadership was no longer able to run poll campaign.

When contacted, a key leader of PTI on condition of anonymity told Dawn: “If party chief Imran Khan is set free and if he runs the elections campaign then the results would be in our favour.”

Some diehard workers insisted that PTI was still the main political force in the country.

Meanwhile, a man belonging to Maneri Payyan village was killed by unidentified assailants on Monday, the police said.

Pir Mohammad, father of the deceased, Razi Khan, 46, told the police that he was in his house when he got information that the body of his son was lying in the graveyard area. He said his son was killed by unknown persons with firearms.

The police registered an FIR and started further investigations.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2023