PESHAWAR: Another visible ‘flop show’ was staged on Monday to form a breakaway faction of the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) as party’s estranged leader Pervez Khattak launched his own faction by the name of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf- Parliamentarians (PTI-P).
Khattak visibly failed to attract the PTI loyalists from the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) that is considered the heartland of the Imran Khan-led PTI. Only former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Mahmood Khan was a big name among those who joined Khattak while most of others mentioned in the handout refuted of Khattak’s claim.
However, within minutes of the Khattak’s handout, at least ten of the party’s former lawmakers mentioned by Khattak’s party distanced themselves from his faction, bringing a huge backlash for Khattak.
Prominent figures including PTI leaders Muhammad Jan, Iftikhar Mashwani, Malik Shaukat, Taj Muhammad Khan, Pir Masoor Khan and Sajida Zulfikar have all denied being part of Khattak’s new party.
Former MPA from Swat Azizullah Khan, former MPA from Abbottabad Qalandar Khan Lodhi, as well as former lawmaker from Lower Dir Azam Khan, have also refuted reports of joining PTI-P, stating their unwavering loyalty to the PTI and its chairman Imran Khan until their last breath.
Observers argue that the initial dissenting messages from members are a clear indication that the party’s political manifesto does not hold much significance.
According to a handout issued by the party, Khattak is the new party’s chief while “more than 57” ex-PTI MPAs also joined the party with more inductions under way.
“Formation of new party came due to differences and conflict within the PTI on May 9 tragedy,” the handout reads, adding that all political leaders joining the PTI-P held PTI Chairman Imran Khan responsible for the May 9 riots.
“Imran Khan’s anti-national agenda was not only rejected by the public but the party’s own leadership. These patriotic politicians parted ways with the PTI over May 9’s events,” it further said.
A PTI leader termed Khattak’s party as “another flop show” as the old man failed to woo most of PTI lawmakers despite worst tactics used to create what he called “the puppet party”.
Copy of PPP Parliamentarians?
Interestingly, the name chosen by Khattak looks like a copy of another group carved out of Benazir Bhutto’s PPP – PPP Parliamentarians – which was actually formed just to confront a possible ban on PPP.
PTI responds
The PTI and what’s left of its leaders came out guns blazing against the new party in an official response.
The party reacted to the development through metaphors, saying the “monsoon season is under way” and political parties were “springing up like weed”.
“Attempts are being made to destroy the standing crop of democracy in the country with a locust horde of 14 parties,” the party spokesperson added in a statement.
“In politics, the officials of the ‘Department of Agriculture’ are working hard day and night in the challenge of cultivating these new crops.”
Taking a dig at the formation of the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) in Lahore, the PTI said: “That seed turned out rotten and was ground into the soil even before harvest.”
Similarly, it said: “The seed in KP called ‘Parliamentarian’ will also be washed away in the first rain of public reaction.”
Nonetheless, the party said it was grateful to the “Department of Agriculture” and its staff for “exposing the dirty eggs involved in behind-the-scenes conspiracies and separating them from PTI”.
Meanwhile, PTI leader Hammad Azhar said the faces of the new faction’s members showed disappointment.
“All of them know that they are attending their own political funeral, not a new party [launch],” he said.
PTI KP President Ali Amin Gandapur said no one’s departure would affect the party or its chairman Imran.
He pilloried the lawmakers in the new party, asserting that they “should not forget that they are parliamentarians because of PTI and Imran Khan”.
He asserted that the PTI’s voter base still stood intact and the party would defeat all others to form its government in the elections.
The party shared a picture of former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser — who said he continued to stand with the PTI chief — saying it was “important to appreciate all those who were able to resist extreme fascism”.
Qaiser was seated beside Khattak in last month’s presser when the latter had announced his resignation from his party position.
The party also posted statements by Iftikhar Mashwani and Azam Khan — party leaders from KP — saying that they continued to stand by the PTI and were not part of the splinter group. Their names were on a list circulating online of PTI members who had allegedly joined Khattak’s party.
Ex-MPA Musawir Khan also asserted his continued affiliation with the PTI. His name was also included in the alleged list of PTI-P’s members.
Khattak, a former party leader who served as the federal defence minister from 2018 to 2022, was expelled from the PTI last week on the charge of encouraging former lawmakers to leave the party.
Sources familiar with the development earlier told Dawn that Khattak was expected to announce the launching of his party on Saturday at a press conference, but it couldn’t take place due to the non-committal attitude of some of those who had previously agreed to join the new venture.
Khattak, who won Nowshera’s NA-25 constituency in the 2018 general election, was still in consultation with his former party colleagues and was striving to put up a big show, the sources had said.
They had said that former PTI lawmakers and some cabinet colleagues wanted clarity and guarantees and assurances of a win in the upcoming elections and were reluctant to take political risks.
Khattak, who had been in Aftab Sherpao’s Qaumi Watan Party for four years before joining the PTI in 2012, is widely known for putting together a group of ‘electables’. He is now keen to assemble enough numbers to stake a claim to the top slot in KP after the elections.
However the bid seems to be failed attempt as party’s former lawmakers fear that their betrayal may end up in a flop show as is the case of Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP).
