Imran Khan’s tenacity in pursuing Panamagate notwithstanding, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI), of late, seems to be lacking the oomph that may be required to push the scandal to its logical conclusion.

Although the PTI chief has repeatedly declared his intention to make the Raiwind march as momentous as the party’s landmark gathering at the Minar-i-Pakistan on Oct 30, 2011, schisms and infighting among the party’s rank and file may prevent Mr Khan from realising this ambition.

While all opposition parties have been baying for justice and pressing for Panama Papers-specific investigations starting from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family, it has been the PTI that has led this movement.

But the question remains: can the PTI pull off a repeat of its famous Oct 2011 rally, which catapulted Mr Khan onto the national stage?

On the face of it, the whole PTI leadership seems fully geared up to ensure the success of the Raiwind march, but at the same time, the party is sending out not-so-positive signals as far as its organisational structure at the lower echelons is concerned.

The recent dissolution of the party’s women, youth and labour wings has only added to the confusion, which has prevailed since the postponement of intra-party elections in April this year. For the time being then, the PTI is being run much like most other political parties in the country; without a constitution or elected office-bearers.

In background discussions, many PTI leaders at both the central and provincial levels agreed that intra-party elections continued to remain a thorn in the party’s side that somehow couldn’t be managed according to the expectations of the chairman. There is also a feeling that in the absence of elected office-bearers, some of the party’s old guard have been sidelined or are feeling disillusioned.

Practically speaking, the party is without any organisational structure at the lower levels, save for a few nominees at central and provincial levels, remarked a senior party leader who didn’t want to be quoted on the record.

As a result, he said, party workers at the district, tehsil and union council levels have absolutely no one to mobilise people at the grassroots level. This organisational ability is something that comes in handy at times of protests, he said.

Another party leader who was unhappy with the existing set-up told Dawn that although Imran Khan honestly sought to usher in genuine democracy within the party, his actions so far had proved otherwise.

This, he claimed, had allowed a few to occupy more space than they deserved by exploiting their influence over Mr Khan.

“Yes, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Jahangir Tareen Khan, Aleem Khan, Ishaq Khakwani, Arif Alvi et al are big names, but it’s party workers who matter at the end of the day,” the party leader said with reference to proposed march.

Of late, Mr Khan has also been accused of accepting so-called electables in the party fold, while distancing himself from those who were part of the original PTI team.

PTI’s first intra-party elections were held just before the last general elections. Later, retired Justice Wajihuddin Ahmad, who supervised the elections as chief election commissioner, found the exercise to be faulty. In a follow-up report, he even recommended the cancellation of membership for some key leaders. The rest, as they say, is history.

The party then tried to hold a similar exercise this year. Former interior secretary Tasneem Noorani was handed the responsibility of conducting fresh polls as the chief election commissioner. But, as luck would have it, Mr Noorani also fell out with top leaders over the mode of elections, resulting in his exit.

The chairman, however, insisted on holding elections, which led to some nasty exchanges between different groups. The rifts within party ranks reached a point where Mr Khan had to intervene and warn all sides of severe repercussions if they continued to divide the party.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2016