PM Imran Khan unveils new organisational structure of PTI

Asad Umar to assist PM as ruling party's Secretary General

ISLAMABAD: In a bid to rebuild his party following the setbacks in local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Prime Minister Imran Khan Saturday named a new organisational structure for Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

The development comes a day after the prime minister dissolved nationwide party organisations after losing the mayorships of several major cities and towns in its stronghold province, including Peshawar, in the first phase of polls.

Announcing the development Friday, , Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry said PM Khan had expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of his party — which has been in power in the province since 2013 — in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Khan has picked Minister for Planning and Development as the ruling party’s secretary-general, Minister for Defence Pervez Khattak as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president, Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi as head of Sindh chapter, National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri for Balochistan president, Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood for Punjab wing and Minister for Industries and Production Khusro Bakhtyar as South Punjab chief.

The new office bearers were selected by an interim committee comprising Chaudhry, Khattak, KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Gandapur, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar, Bakht Yar, Punjab governor Chaudhry Sarwar, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Umar, among others.

Chaudhry had said the KP chief minister has been given responsibility for the second phase of LG elections, adding the PTI considers local institutions vital for the progress of democracy.

The Friday meeting also decided that a special committee would be formed to look into the alleged award of tickets to relatives and friends of party leaders. In future, such cases would be sent to the committee which would decide whether or not to give tickets.

He said a ticketing mechanism for elections would be set up with the approval of the prime minister.

The minister had said there was no concept of family politics in the PTI party as Khan never allowed personal relationships to dominate his mission in politics.

“If the culture of PPP and PML-N seeps into the PTI, there will be no difference between them and us,” he said emphatically.

The way PTI should have played its role as a major party was not witnessed in the KP elections, he said.

The minister had said that village councils’ election results were still coming, which showed the PTI was still the largest party in the countryside.

He said the PTI had the status of a national party and Khan was the leader of the federation with his vote bank spread nationwide.

“No party other than PTI is capable of fielding candidates for around 1,200 seats of the national and provincial assemblies in the general elections,” he said.

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