PTI rift stalls TTAP plan for separate political wing

An internal rift in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has forced its ally, the Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Aain-e-Pakistan, to put on hold a plan to set up a separate political wing and a provincial organisation, and the two sides dispute whether PTI ever endorsed the arrangement.

TTAP spokesperson Akhunzada Hussain confirmed that the organisational plan has been suspended because of the differences inside PTI. The Express Tribune reported in mid-October that TTAP, saying it had PTI's backing, would establish its own political arm and build structures at provincial level, with chapters asked to form working and research groups.

PTI sources told the newspaper that the mid-October report itself caused the friction, with party leaders raising strong objections to the arrangement. The sources said TTAP leaders Asad Qaiser and Akhunzada Hussain came under criticism from inside PTI, where they were reminded of their political standing and warned they could be called back from TTAP if required.

The same sources asked why PTI would back what they described as a parallel political structure, saying it would let people with little independent political standing pursue a long-standing ambition. They said several TTAP leaders, among them Allama Nasir and Mahmood Khan Achakzai, had failed to mobilise support beyond their own constituencies. When the matter was taken up internally, PTI leaders distanced themselves from any commitment, the sources said.

Hussain disputed that account. He said the proposal was discussed at a meeting attended by PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and secretary general Salman Akram Raja, and that both endorsed the suggestion that TTAP be allowed to form its own political arm. TTAP later learned through intermediaries that there was resistance inside PTI to what had been agreed at the meeting, he said, but the party never formally conveyed any reservations to TTAP.

"Whenever the next meeting takes place, we will put this issue on the agenda and ask PTI's leadership that if it cannot get its own party to agree to decisions endorsed by its representatives at TTAP, then it should refrain from taking decisions on the party's behalf," Hussain said.

PTI's central information secretary rejected the spokesperson's version. He said Barrister Gohar had told him plainly that the proposal was not approved as a formal agenda item at the meeting, and that PTI would not permit the creation of such a structure under any circumstances. Asked whether a separate TTAP political arm could help PTI, the information secretary said there was no logic in setting up a parallel organisational structure.