PTI leaders mock ‘defunct’ ET’s suspension of leaders

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s deepening internal rifts appeared more pronounced than ever after head of election tribunal formed to investigate discrepancies in the intra-party elections ordered the cancellation of the basic memberships of several key leaders but the verdict was overruled by the party chairman, Imran Khan, within minutes of its announcement.

The tribunal headed by Justice (r) Wajihud Din Ahmed ordered the suspension of several party stalwarts like Jahangir Tareen, Arif Alvi, Saifullah Niazi, Nadir Leghari, Abdul Aleem Khan and Qasim Khan Suri and ordered them to appear before the tribunal on June 29.

The tribunal has not only ordered suspension of Jahangir Tareen and Nadir Leghari from the party but has also recommended that the party should not take them back in. It also ruled that Pervez Khattak and Aleem Khan should never be given a party position.

However, few minutes after the ruling was reported by news channels, Imran Khan dismissed the tribunal as defunct on the micro-blogging website twitter. He tweeted that the tribunal was dissolved following its verdict on intra-party elections terming them null and void. He also commented that the “subjective targeting of senr (sic) party leadership is unacceptable”. The PTI chairman further remarked that the tribunal was not authorised to “defame senior party members”.

Commenting on the verdict, Jahangir Tareen said that PTI Chairman Imran Khan has already ordered dissolution of the tribunal therefore its rulings were illegal. PTI Central Vice President Naeem-ul-Haque also supported Tareen’s stance by commenting that a dismissed tribunal’s ruling is not valid

Earlier, PTI election tribunal headed by Justice retired Wajih-ud-din Ahmed had asked for dissolution of the elected bodies and office-bearers to form an interim set-up to run the party affairs.

Shortly thereafter, Imran Khan withdrew the controversial decision to dissolve election tribunal led by Justice Wajihuddin amid growing criticism over his ‘authoritarian’ approach to run the party’.