MUZAFFARABAD: Vying to form the next government in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) may have to grapple with infighting within the party first, one glaring example of which came to fore on Sunday after a PTI candidate aired his dirty linen in public.
Speaking at a corner meeting in his constituency LA-7, Bhimber-III, PTI ticket holder Chaudhry Anwarul Haq hurled a volley of allegations against the party’s regional president Barrister Sultan Mahmood.
Mr Haq, a former minister and Legislative Assembly speaker, had won his first election under the banner of Mr Mahmood’s People’s Muslim League in 2006. From 2011 onwards, he remained associated with the PPP, the then ruling party, as chairman of the so-called ‘good governance committee.’
Recently, he joined the PTI at the hands of Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan, one of the advisers to the Punjab chief minister as well as the PTI candidate for the upcoming AJK polls from Bagh city.
Says Sultan Mahmood should join PML-N and contest elections against him
In his speech, Mr Haq accused the PTI regional president of supporting the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in his constituency without taking the name of his formidable opponent Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, the senior minister in the sitting government.
“Whatever Sultan Mahmood is going to do in my constituency, I have full faith in the Almighty that when you dig a pit for others to fall into, you will fall into it yourself,” Mr Haq said.
Referring to the party discipline, he said it should be applicable to everyone.
“You have changed 13 parties and now you are supporting the PML-N… You will be held accountable and we will do this after grabbing you by the collar,” he said.
Throwing a gauntlet to Mr Mahmood, he said if he possessed honour and dignity, he should quit as the PTI president, join the PML-N and contest elections against him.
“We will make you cry and your screams will be heard across [the] Pir Panjal [mountain range].”
Though the video of Mr Haq’s speech had gone viral on social media, immediately there was no response from Mr Mahmood’s office.
When contacted, his spokesperson Syed Kamal said the PTI president was busy in the election campaign of party candidates in Mirpur and Kotli for the past several days along with federal minister Ali Ameen Gandapur.
“Due to the hectic schedule he was not accessible, but will be available to the media on Monday,” he said.
PTI’s regional secretary information Ershad Mahmud played down the allegations by Mr Haq and said Mr Mahmood was constantly striving for the party’s victory in the forthcoming polls and such type of allegations should not have come from a party candidate.
“When elections are hardly three weeks away, party cadres should demonstrate unity and harmony more than ever because otherwise our rivals will take its benefit,” he said.
Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2021
