ISLAMABAD: Akbar S. Babar, a former founding member of the PTI, has assailed what he termed a “premeditated bias” against him. He was reacting to claims from Niazullah Niazi regarding the intra-party polls held in late 2023.

In an interview, Niazi had claimed that the decision to bar Babar and others from taking part in the polls led to the exercise being shot down by the Supreme Court.

Niazi, who was the election commissioner, had claimed that if Babar had been allowed to file his nomination papers, they would have been rejected during scrutiny. However, Babar pointed out that by saying that he would have rejected the nomination papers, Niazi was showing his “own premeditated bias” against a founding member.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2025