Party sees this as only way to get out of what it calls constitutional impasse 
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) activists wave party flags during a rally in Peshawar. — AFP/File
ISLAMABAD: Just a week before the conduct of general elections, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Wednesday decided to hold intra-party elections afresh in the light of decisions of Supreme Court (SC) and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as early as possible.
The party sees this as the only way to get out of what it calls the constitutional impasse. The decision to hold the intra-party polls again was made during PTI’s general body meeting, which was attended by the top leadership.
The meeting took place virtually after the ‘heavy contingent of police’ reached PTI’s Central Secretariat in Islamabad and sealed the Islamabad and Quetta offices. Police blocked all the ways leading to the party’s media secretariat ahead of the PTI’s general body meeting.
On the occasion, a resolution on the party’s internal polls was presented in the meeting, which was attended by leaders and members from Quetta, Peshawar, Islamabad and other leaders.
PTI Central Information Secretary Raoof Hasan has been appointed as PTI’s Federal Election Commissioner and Qazi Muhammad Anwar (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Waleed Iqbal (Punjab), Noor Ul Haq Qureshi (Sindh), Muhammad Dawood Khan (Balochistan), and Shah Nasir (Gilgit-Baltistan) made as provincial/quasi provincial members of PTI.
For managing the affairs of PTI till the announcement of the party poll results, Omar Ayub shall act as the Chief Organizer of PTI in place of the previous chief organizer.
Separately, PTI’s founding member and ex-information secretary Akbar S Babar, in reaction to this development, made it clear the ‘present defunct leadership’ will not be allowed to further damage the party. “On media reports that the present defunct PTI leadership intends to conduct another fraud in the name of intra party election in the next few days, any such attempt will be challenged at all legal forums as any new fraudulent intra party elections could damage the party beyond repair. The intra party elections is a serious affair and must be conducted in full transparency,” he noted.
Meanwhile, PTI senior leader Omar Ayub Khan slammed the police for denying PTI the right to hold its general body meeting convened in Islamabad and in the provincial capitals as part of the intra party elections, calling upon the top court to take immediate notice of clear violation of its orders.
