LAHORE: Growing differences among party leadership are becoming divisive for the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) to the extent that even party chief Imran Khan had to voice his concern during his call for a march on Raiwind, on Sunday.

Mr Khan seemed sensitive about the issue of differences, as the party is entering a so-called decisive phase by launching a “historic” protest at Raiwind on Sept 30 – in an attempt to force Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family to explain their position on Panamagate.

In his address, Mr Khan named Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Jahangir Tareen and appealed to all party leaders to forget their differences for now and unite against the status quo.

Earlier, in a meeting he had snubbed groups of both leaders, who wanted to discuss their differences in the wake of resignation of the party’s additional secretary general and an anonymous letter written by workers. But a source said Mr Khan snubbed and told them all such issues should wait till Sept 30 and instead asked them to unite for a “historic” show in Raiwind.

In recent developments, the party’s Additional Secretary General Saifullah Khan Niazi tendered his resignation from office, according to sources, for losing powers in the party, as Secretary General Jahangir Khan Tareen was busy gathering his clout around him. Only hours later, an anonymous letter issued by “PTI workers” expressed no-confidence in Mr Tareen alleging that he was creating a group within the party. The “workers” also printed posters against Tareen bearing a cross on his picture.

Some party leaders under the umbrella of Shah Mahmood were blunt enough to say that Tareen was not fit for the slot because he was never able to gel with the entire party and instead created his group to secure his position.

However, Saifullah Niazi, Shah Mahmood and Tareen remain tight-lipped over the differences issue. They neither responded to calls nor messages asking questions.

Although there was no explanation as to why Niazi resigned from party office, sources said he had lost importance and was inactive for some time. They added that Chairman Imran Khan had not accepted his resignation so far.

Alleged PTI workers from all provinces reportedly sent the anonymous letter to the party chairman “de-notifying Jahangir Tareen as secretary general for misusing his authority” in the wake of a Sept 10 notification bearing his signatures about dissolution of central and provincial bodies of youth, women and labour wings.

The notification -- issued in consultation with the chairman and consensus of regional presidents of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, provincial presidents of Sindh and Balochistan and Asad Umar -- states the central and provincial bodies of youth, women and labour wings were dissolved with immediate effect and will be reorganised at regional level.

Regional presidents of these wings will be appointed in consultation with regional presidents of the party and work in tandem with them. It also states that all appointments made by the regional wing presidents at district level will be counter-signed by the party’s regional presidents.

The anonymous letter also states that Mr Tareen has no authority to dissolve the elected bodies and that he failed to come up with a progressive political organisational structure and instead created his own group within the party. They also alleged that Mr Tareen was promoting status quo within the party besides introducing a culture of horse-trading during the intra-party election.

Close aides of Tareen claim his opponents are confusing his personal opinion with the party’s official position. Some workers are misunderstanding party notifications signed by Tareen as his personal opinion. All party letters and notifications as well as any letter written to the election commission are signed by the secretary general.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2016