Daily Times

PESHAWAR: The announcement of five district presidents for Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI), by the party’s Peshawar regional president Shah Farman, has triggered strife and anger among the party workers and leaders of the region.

A notification issued by Shah Farman here on Sunday will fill the five slots which were lying vacant for the last three months.

The notification reads that Arbab Jhandad has been appointed as president for Peshawar, Mian Jamsheed for Nowsehra, Anwar Haqdad for Sawabi, Muhammad Arif Ahmad Zai for Charssadda and Iftikhar Mashvani for district Mardan.

It is for the third time that PTI Chairman, Imran Khan, restructured his political party and delayed the intra-party elections in the province, additionally party leaders from the KP were again sidelined in the appointments and a decision was made against the wishes of its party workers and provincial leaders.

It also pertinent mention here that due to the provincial party leadership’s attitude the most staunch ally of the PTI and close friend of Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, the Member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA), Jamshed Khan Mohmand, quit the PTI coalition and joined the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) here on Sunday.

A Mmember of the District Mardan Council, Shahid Siraj, also criticised the appointment of Ifitkhar Mishvani as the district president and described the move as selection against election in the party.

A Provincial Assembly lawmaker pleading anonymity told the scribe that the regional president Shah Farman had sidelined senior and deserving candidates in the appointment of the district president.

He said that making lame excuses and delaying tactics to hold intra party elections in the province would prove as a disadvantage the PTI stack and its popularity graph.

Workers of the party triggered hostile comments over the social media Facebook and called the announcement an injustice which was against the wishes of the workers.

Another district Peshawar council member criticised the appointments made by the regional president of Peshawar.

He alleged that the Member of the National Assembly (MNA), Jehangir Tareen, who is also a member the core committee member of the PTI was interfering in the “selection” and “election” criteria for Khyber Pakhtukhwa (KP).

He said that appointments were made above the board and the workers of the party were often sidelined in the key decisions, adding that members of the core committee of the PTI and provincial levels leaders following the foot prints of other political parties in country, would malign the reputation of the PTI.

The workers and representatives of the district council Mardan hold an emergency meeting to agitate the appointment of Iftikhar Mishvani as the district president.

The meeting was attended by the leaders from Mardan district including Jalal Khan, District Mardan council member Shahid Siraj, Musa Khan, Hamid Ali Khan, Adnan Bacha, Wajid Ali and others.

Members at the meeting strongly condemned Shah Farman for te biased appointments at the five districts and termed the decision against the spirit of the party’s constitution.

According to the sources members at the meeting decided to hold corner meetings among the workers at all the union councils to brace a force of the PTI workers against the decision.