PTI drowns in cynicism even after Cantt polls win

• Party fails to relish success as runner-up in Cantt polls as its leaders lament lack of organisational structure, internal bickering as reasons behind its defeat in Lahore, Pindi

With Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan admitting his party’s short-comings recently, the former cricket hero’s party has not only failed to acknowledge its victory of emerging as second largest political party in cantonment board elections, it is struggling to take stock of party’s internal issues which led to its defeat in its strongholds.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidates won 68 seats in the cantonment board elections held last week while PTI bagged 42 winning candidates, bringing the success ratio of PTI upwards as compared to its performance in General Election 2013.

The PTI remained victorious in not only in urban centres of Punjab cantonment boards but also secured significant votes in rural Punjab besides gaining success in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh.

PTI candidates won significant votes in PML-N strongholds such as Gujranwala, Gujrat, Murree, Multan and parts of Southern Punjab. This signifies that PTI’s popularity has travelled into the suburbs of Punjab where PTI registered success for the first time.

Even PTI won in cantonments of three provinces including Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – a milestone even the PML-N failed to achieve. The PML-N only won in Punjab while the PPP, which had emerged as second largest party in 2013 general polls, was washed away as it could only win seven seats, mostly in Sindh, while Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and others failed to even open their success account.

KHAN IS NOT CONVINCED:

However, PTI chief Imran Khan failed to value his party’s success. In his first public comments over the cantonment polls during the Youth Convention, Khan cursed the party’s “poor organisational structure” for party’s “failure” in the cantonment board polls.

However, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Punjab President Ijaz Chaudhry praised the party’s success.

Talking to Pakistan Today, Ijaz Chaudhry said that the PTI had registered its historic win in the cantonment board elections and now PTI had emerged as the second biggest party in the country.

“But we have won from all over the country while the PML-N has been restricted to Punjab. Now the PML-N has become a regional party while the PTI has proved its worth. Now PTI is only party which has roots in all four provinces and also in AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan,” asserted Chaudhry.

Asked about the intra-party bickering within the PTI, Chaudhry admitted that the intra-party grouping had damaged PTI. “We are very conscious of our weaknesses. We are trying to rectify our mistakes. We will go by the advice of our chairman in the upcoming local body polls. We will perform better in upcoming polls,” he maintained.

In the meanwhile, background interactions with around half a dozen PTI leaders have suggested that Imran Khan-led party showed dismal performance in Rawalpindi and Lahore cantonment areas where the PML-N candidates put in a huge effort to secure their seats, “thanks to huge funding provided by Punjab government”.

INTERNAL BICKERING COST HEAVILY IN PINDI:

PTI ranks and file remained elusive towards party’s campaign in Pindi Cantt due to internal bickering, personal clashes and grouping.

As the PTI chairman had dissolved the party’s organisations in wake of the verdict by Justice (r) Wajihuddin Ahmed on allegations of rigging in the intra-party elections, the party’s regional organisations failed to take part in the campaign of the party’s ticket holders.

Moreover, most of the ticket holders were new in urban areas; they failed to get the voters out of their houses while the PTI dissidents also damaged the canvassing of the PTI candidates.

A PTI leader from Rawalpindi told Pakistan Today that in Pindi Cantt, the party’s candidates were not extended support from party’s regional leaders.

“First the tickets were awarded to weak candidates. Moreover, the MNA from NA-55 Shaikh Rashid Ahmed also did not support PTI candidates. The ousted party leaders Hina Manzoor, the party’s former general-secretary of Northern Punjab chapter, who had secured around 55,000 votes from NA-54 Pindi Cantt, and Sadaqat Abbasi, former president of Northern Punjab, also campaigned against party candidates,” the PTI leader said.

The PTI leader added that none of the party’s top leader attended the party’s corner meetings despite the fact that the Punjab government was providing hefty amounts for development projects in the area.

On the other hand, PTI’s two major rivals from PML-N, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Senator Chaudhry Tanvir, jointly backed the PML-N candidates and got their candidates won.

“You saw, Ghulam Sarwar Khan fielded experienced candidates in Wah Cantt and Taxila where the party performed well,” the PTI leader added.

INTERNAL RIFTS LED TO LAHORE DEFEAT:

In Lahore, the PTI was also divided between groups headed by Punjab President Ijaz Chaudhry, Lahore President Abdul Aleem Khan and NA-125 ticket holder Hamid Khan.

On the other hand, PML-N’s minister Khwaja Saad Rafique was able to launch massive development projects in DHA and Walton areas to ensure win for his party’s candidates who were fully backed by the Punjab government.

“It is an irony that Imran Khan awarded party tickets to all 20 candidates on recommendations of Abdul Aleem Khan, who is infamous for his role as a developer and a builder in cantonment area. Later Hamid Khan was able to change tickets of four candidates but it was too late for the new ticket holders and damage had already been done,” a PTI leader from Lahore told this scribe.

The PTI leader said that the PTI was so strong in Cantt that the party’s diehard workers, soon after the General Election 2013, had organised a protest camp at Lalak Jan Chowk on their own for the 126-day sit-in at D-Chowk in Islamabad. However, the “wrong award” of party tickets led to sheer disappointment for the party workers who could not decide whom they should vote for, he added.

“There were at least four to five candidates in each constituency and all were seeking votes in the name of PTI. Since we knew that most of the independent candidates were real PTI who were a part of protests with us in PTI camp, we could not decide whom we should vote for,” a resident of DHA Lahore told Pakistan Today.