PTI to be run by ex-Army officers till intra-party polls

Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has decided to run the party through former military officers and judges until the intra-party elections were held, political sources said.

A senior PTI leader said the ex-civil/military officers and judges will run the new interim setup and remain in office till the conduct and conclusion of fresh intra-party polls. The party is already being run under an interim setup since May 2015 as Mr Khan dissolved its organisation following the recommendations of Wajihuddin Ahmed Commission rep-ort, which proposed fresh intra-party polls after finding out that the key leaders were involved in buying offices.

“Imran Khan and the party’s chief election commissioner Tasnim Noorani who have decided to remove the incumbent interim setup believe there should be a completely neutral caretaker setup which would hold the fresh intra-party polls in a bid to make it acceptable to all,” he said. “For this purpose, they considered to select such party sympathisers as are ex-military officers and judges to lead the new caretaker setup,” he added. However, Waji-huddin Ahmed whose commission’s findings pressed the party to hold fresh polls had said, “Appointing caretakers from ex-cadres of civil, military and judiciary will not bring any change.”

“The most important step to hold the fresh intra-party polls is to cleanse the voter lists of bogus voters. The other measure to conduct fair elections is that the process must be held through balloting at the polling stations and not through electronic vote,” Mr Ahmed had proposed.

Mr Ahmed, whose party membership was suspended by the PTI chief, said, “It has come to my knowledge that the party’s election commission has decided to hold fresh polls following electronic vote, which means the exercise of May 2013 will be repeated. My commission found corrupt practices in the last polls on part of Pervez Khattak, Aleem Khan and Nadir Akmal Leghari and others for buying their way into the party offices.”

“In the last party polls there were 7.2 million party members that included personal servants and disciples of peers and landlords and they could never vote against the wishes of their masters. The election should be held according to the old list after cleansing it of fake members (voters),” he had suggested.

“Those who become the party members as a result of fresh membership drive after the announcement of polls should not be registered as voters for a certain time period. The party constitution which I had overseen during its preparation restricts a new member from voting and allows the persons who have been the party men for at least 120 days before the announcement date of intra-party polls,” he had said.

The PTI leader said, “Some leaders met Imran Khan after the local government polls and advised him not to hold fresh elections as it will bring more rift and let the party run through the incumbent interim setup. Imran Khan, refused to accept their advice saying the workers would elect the people to run the party.” PTI workers were waiting for Mr Noorani who is out of the country to unveil the caretaker arrangement and announce the schedule of fresh intra-party polls.