ISLAMABAD: Yet another test for the cornered Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), which is already grappling with so many issues, as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will take up the case of stripping PTI Chairman Imran Khan off his party chairmanship on Tuesday (November 28).
A five-member bench, headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, will hear the case. PTI chairman’s lawyers, on the occasion, will submit their replies to the bench.
Khalid Mehmood Khan, a citizen, who had filed a petition in the election commission, had argued that since Imran was now a convict in the Toshakhana reference; therefore, he be removed from the post of the party chairman.
Also on Sunday, Akbar S. Babar, one of the founders of PTI, in his message, urged what he called ‘ideological workers of the party’ to come forward in order to ensure free, fair, and transparent intra-party elections as ordered by the ECP.
He tried to bring home the fact that in case free and fair elections were not held, the party would not be able to retain its electoral symbol of ‘bat’, and hence the prospects for it contesting the general elections might be in serious jeopardy. “Therefore, the PTI workers will have to save the party from complete destruction,” he said and announced starting a countrywide mass contact campaign on behalf of the party.
Babar was of the view that the workers would have to rise to the occasion so that what he called the party could be saved from getting ‘hijacked’ again.
He also called for the constitution of PTI’s election commission, comprising honest and dedicated party leaders and workers, after consultations with each other. “Voters’ lists should be issued at the national, provincial and district levels,” he said, adding, “The verification of these voters should be done in a transparent manner and the polling date should also be announced immediately.”
Babar went on to say that had decisions not been taken by just individuals in the party, the situation would have been different today. Alleging that the PTI leadership was corrupt and incompetent, he opined that the leadership was to blame for the woes afflicting the party workers today.
