- Shah Mahmood Qureshi accuses Jahangir Khan Tareen of financing protests outside Khan’s Banigala residence
- Tareen says only wants to award tickets to those who can win so that ‘Imran can become PM’
ISLAMABAD: An extraordinary meeting of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) parliamentary board has failed to take decisions on awarding party tickets to aspirants and the matter has been left to party chief Imran Khan, who would make the final decision by Sunday, it has been learnt.
Sources told Pakistan Today that the party’s parliamentary board held an hours-long meeting but could not take decisions due to serious differences cropping up between senior leaders Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Jahangir Khan Tareen. They added that because of the differences between party members, the matter was finally left with Imran Khan who would now take decisions on all the remaining constituencies.
“The meeting, which continued for hours, failed to develop a consensus on several constituencies of Punjab where the party workers have refused to accept the decisions taken in the first meeting of the parliamentary board,” a source said, adding that the exchange of harsh words was so intense that Imran Khan left the meeting halfway.
Later, the source said that both Qureshi and Tareen left Islamabad for their hometowns to oversee their campaigns.
He also said that during the meeting, Qureshi accused Tareen’s group of provoking and financing the protest demonstrations being held outside Imran Khan’s Banigala residence.
In response, Tareen accused Qureshi of awarding party tickets to his blue-eyed people who did not have considerable support from the party workers. The source added that the debate turned into a heated argument when both the party leaders accused each other of compromising the party’s interest over petty personal benefits.
“During the board meeting, Tareen was joined by most of the party leadership from across country,” he said and added, “A helpless Qureshi left the meeting in a furious temper and left for Multan soon afterwards.”
Another source told Pakistan Today that Qureshi believed that Tareen was instrumental in blocking the award of ticket to PML-N’s former agriculture minister Sikander Hayat Bosan from NA-154 Multan.
According to details, Qureshi wants a ticket to be issued to Bosan at any cost as at least six of the union councils previously under Bosan has now been included in NA-157 – the constituency from which Shah Mehmood’s son Zain Qureshi is making his political debut.
The source also revealed that Qureshi has accused Tareen of provoking Ahmad Hussain Dahar to stage a protest demonstration at Banigala. Qureshi, however, claims that Dahar is not even capable of securing the seat of MPA which falls under Bosan’s constituency.
Another issue is the award of tickets to some MPAs in Multan where Tareen wants to award tickets to two youths who had staged a sit-in outside the residence of Qureshi during the recent local government elections.
“Qureshi is opposing award of ticket to PTI’s youth leader Nawabzada Wasim Khan Badozai from PP-213 Multan where he had secured 29,728 votes in 2013 elections and had lost only with a difference of 2,000 votes,” the source said, adding that Badozai may contest as an independent candidate if not awarded a ticket.
Qureshi is also unhappy with Tareen’s role in reversing party tickets allotted to Chaudhry Nazir Jutt and his daughter Ayesha Nazir Jutt from Vehari.
“Qureshi had played a key role in the award of tickets to Jutt’s family but the latter not only got two tickets, he also decided to contest against Tareen’s associate Ishaq Khakwani from NA-163 as an independent candidate. Jutt also plans to contest against Khakwani from a provincial seat despite the fact that he had been awarded a provincial assembly seat by PTI,” the source added.
He also said that Tareen and Qureshi were also at odds over allotment of tickets to candidates for NA-94 Khushab, NA-113 Kamalia and NA-141 Okara.
Previously the PTI had awarded tickets to Mansur Sarwar from NA-74 Sialkot, which would now be awarded to Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas. Abbas is a local politician who had secured over 38,232 votes as an independent candidate in the last general elections against PML-N’s Zahid Hamid, who had secured 131,468 votes.
The parliamentary board has also recommended overturning its previous decision over the award of ticket to Gul Asghar Khan in NA-94 Khushab. The ticket is likely to be awarded to Malik Ihsanullah of Tiwana family, who have been winning elections since the 1940s.
The third National Assembly constituency being reviewed is NA-113 Kamalia, Toba Tek Singh, where the party had awarded ticket to Haider Khan Kharal, the son of late Khalid Kharal. The board has decided to award party ticket to Riaz Fatyana, the man who joined PTI twice in the past but later switched sides both times.
Another constituency is in NA-141 Okara where the party has awarded ticket to former information minister Syed Samsam Bukhari who has little influence in the newly drawn constituency. Masood Shafqat Rabera has been awarded the party ticket for now but the party is reluctant to move forward with him due to successive disciplinary violations by Masood in the past.
The source also said that the party is likely to award ticket to Mian Ghous Mohammad from NA-176 Rahimyar Khan-II.
On the other hand, PTI’s Additional Information Secretary Faisal Javed Khan has denied that there is any infighting in the party.
He also denied any bickering between Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Jahangir Khan Tareen saying no exchange of harsh words took place between Qureshi and Tareen during the parliamentary party meeting.
Meanwhile, talking to media on Saturday, Jahangir Tareen denied making any contact with Shah Mehmood Qureshi after their bickering. He also said that party matters should not be discussed through press conferences.
“I am striving to distribute tickets to only those members who can win from their constituencies and Imran Khan is making efforts for the same objective,” he said.
“If our candidates don’t win from their constituencies, then Imran will not be able to become the prime minister,” Tareen said.
