ISLAMABAD: The PTI on Saturday clarified that MNA Junaid Akbar remains the president of the party’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter, but Senator Noorul Haq Qadri will preside over the meetings in the former’s absence.
The whereabouts of Akbar remain unknown after he, along with Sohail Afridi and others, was taken into preventative custody following the Centre’s imposition of governor’s rule and emergency in KP on Oct 11.
Amid the absence, there were reports that more than 50 lawmakers from the KP Assembly had met on Oct 14 to endorse former chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur’s nomination as acting provincial president in place of Akbar.
Subsequently, on Saturday, a notification signed by PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan declared that the party’s provincial organisation “shall continue to function under the presidency” of Akbar.
Senator Qadri, the incumbent senior vice president (SVP) of PTI’s KP chapter, “shall preside over all meetings of PTI provincial cabinet in absence of Junaid Akbar and shall act according to the Constitution of PTI”.
Qadri has served as the federal religious affairs minister during the PTI government.
Meanwhile, PTI KP Secretary General Ali Asghar Khan would “chair all meetings in the absence of SVP (Qadri) and is empowered to call and chair all meetings of other tiers of the provincial organisation”.
Asghar would also be “responsible for overall administration, coordination, supervision with all tiers and wings in order to implement party policies, strategies or decisions”.
The PTI notification further directed: “Subject to the foregoing, it is however made clear that no changes shall be made in the provincial cabinet or organisational structure of PTI KPK till further order.”
The notification also follows a public spat on social media between Gandapur and PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja over the matter.
In a post on X, Raja had taken a dig at “the conspiratorial narrative” regarding a possible announcement by a group of party MPAs to nominate a new provincial president without permission from their jailed leader Imran Khan, or the party’s political committee.
On his part, Gandapur, in a lengthy post on X, criticised the secretary general for “levelling vague accusations” against his party colleagues and raised several questions regarding his statements.
