SWABI: Serious differences have surfaced in Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Swabi chapter, at a time when the party’s central and provincial leadership is preparing for Islamabad protest on Nov 2, party insiders told this correspondent here on Friday.

They said that the differences erupted soon after the party leadership issued a notification to nominate an old PTI leader Anwar Haqdad as district president and authorised him to run the party affairs in the district.

The first cry came from provincial health minister Shahram Khan Tarakai’s family and Biland Iqbal, who is Shahram’s uncle, said that the decision to nominate Mr Haqdad was not acceptable to them.

Talking to this correspondent, Mr Iqbal said that they would run a campaign against this decision because PTI had rejected the drawing room politics and this decision was made behind the curtains. Answering a question, he said that he did not know about the position of Mr Shahram. When contacted, Imran Khan Tarakai, former spokesman of Tarakai family, said they would participate in the Nov 2 Islamabad protest, but they would not join Mr Haqdad’s caravan.

“We will make our own arrangements, separately from the district leadership of the party,” he said. When contacted, Mr Haqdad said he knew about the people who raised eyebrows against his nomination. “We have worked for the party with complete devotion in very difficult times and those who oppose my nomination are violating the party rules,” he noted. A number of party leaders contacted by phone lauded the provincial leadership for nominating Mr Haqdad as president and KP Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar for his role in this regard.

HEALTH ISSUES: Speakers at a gathering here have said that the community’s involvement in identification of various health issues confronting people could help in improvement of health delivery system.

Supported by Empowerment Voice of Accountability for Better Health and Nutrition, the meeting was organised by District Advocacy Forum. Health minister Shahram Tarakai, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said that the PTI-led coalition government had been striving to bring result-oriented changes in the health sector, stressing on people’s participation. He said that people should play their role in the formation of various policies.

“We have restored the people’s confidence in public sector hospitals, provided the required health facilities, including equipment and staff to hospitals, across the province,” he said. Mr Shahram said that the district government should also focus on strengthening the basic health units.

ARRESTED: The district police have arrested seven people and recovered from their custody over 11kgs of charas.

DPO Javid Iqbal said that the crackdown on smugglers across the district would continue. Those arrested include Majid Khan of Pabbini, Sher Zamin of Luqman Dheri, Khaista Rehman and Khalid Khan of Karnal Sher Kallay, Zar Taj of Gandaf, Kamran Khan of Anbar and Zeeshan Khan of Kalabat. FIRs have been registered against them in different police stations.

Published in Dawn October 22nd, 2016