• Niazi replaces Ilyas as regional president; party resolves to sit on opposition benches
• Observers blame senior leadership’s ‘indecisiveness’ for surprise outcome in vote for leader of the house

IT HASN’T even been two years since Imran Khan’s PTI swept the elections to the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly, clinching a total of 34 seats. But at the time, no one could have imagined that within the span of 20-odd months, the party would lose its premier and its cadres would split into multiple factions.

Indeed, matters seemed to come to a head on Monday night during a huddle at Zaman Park, where the party announced its intention to sit on the opposition benches in the AJK assembly and announced Khawaja Farooq Ahmed as the leader of the opposition.

But when Sardar Tanveer Ilyas came to power in April last year, after a successful no confidence motion against his predecessor and fellow party leader Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi, it was assumed that despite lacking political experience and skills peculiar to AJK, he would be able to complete his term.

But after he was shown the door following unprecedented judicial action by the AJK courts, the PTI’s numerical strength in the house dwindled to 31 — four more than the simple majority needed to elect a new leader of the house.

Still, it should not have been too difficult for the party to elevate another from within its ranks to serve as his successor, had the party’s top leadership not been plagued by indecisiveness — their attention and energies being focused elsewhere.

Political analysts attribute the party’s ‘defeat’ in the recent election of the AJK PM to the unnecessary delay incurred by the PTI leadership in declaring their candidate for the prime minister’s slot following the disqualification of Mr Ilyas.

“After the rejection of the former prime minister’s plea for interim relief by the Supreme Court, Imran Khan should have nominated a senior and committed member of his parliamentary party for the office without wasting time,” maintains Naila Altaf Kayani, a renowned social and political analyst based in Muzaffarabad.

But he dilly-dallied too long and, eventually, the matter spiralled out of his party’s hands, she said.

Festering rivalry

Not many are privy to the rivalry of sorts that has existed between Chaudhry Anwa­rul Haq, the new prime minister from the PTI’s so-called ‘forward bloc’, and President Sultan Mahmood right from the time that the former joined PTI, shortly before the July 2021 polls. Interestingly, he was bro­u­ght to the party fold by none other than the man he replaced in the AJK premier’s seat.

However, the relationship between Mr Haq and his benefactor became strained. Adding to this was his apparently friendliness with the PPP, which constitutes a larger chunk of the combined opposition, which gave the government cause for concern.

As speaker, Mr Haq is said to have encouraged the opposition to requisition sessions that he would drag on with longer gaps, sometimes spanning weeks. The recent assembly session, which saw him elected leader of the house, was summoned by him in the last week of February.

After the erstwhile prime minister was disqualified, Imran Khan had proposed three names — acting premier Khawaja Farooq Ahmed, Azhar Sadiq and Mr Haq’s — and asked the party to choose from amongst them.

However, President Mahmood is said to have activated his supporters within the PTI to ensure that someone else was elected to the coveted office rather than anyone from amongst the three named by the PTI chief.

It was around the same time that Mr Khan asked Pervez Khattak and Asad Qaiser to rush to Muzaffarabad, but they failed to get the president to budge from his demand.

The issue then dragged on for a number of days, much to the detriment of the PTI’s cause.

Confusion within PTI ranks

A day before leaving Muzaffarabad, Mr Khattak had reportedly asked the acting prime minister to arrange two votes. In response, he was asked how that could be done in the absence of a proper nomination by the leadership.

On the other hand, reports emerged on April 14 that PPP regional chief Chaudhry Yasin had been nominated as the opposition’s joint candidate. Although this was denied by three senior PPP leaders, Mr Yasin claimed he only needed six votes from the PTI to clinch victory.

According to sources close to him, Mr Haq had assured Chaudhry Yasin that five to seven PTI legislators would help him achieve his goal.

However, some senior PPP leaders were keen to strike a deal with Mr Mahmood and a three-member committee met the AJK president and agreed to support his pick; Chaudhry Rasheed.

But things were not going in his favour, and by the time the dust settled, the president was left with only five members backing him.

Amid this uncertainty, Mr Haq assured PTI leaders he could manage some votes from within PPP to form the government. This seemed to sit well with Pervez Khattak, who not only gave him the go-ahead, but advised PTI lawmakers through voice notes to vote for him.

According to a PTI leader, the party’s central leadership was under the impression that Mr Haq will be able to break the PPP and PML-N’s ranks.

“But they had no idea that he would join forces with the entire opposition along with his so-called forward bloc,” he said.

Soon after Mr Haq emerged as a candidate, former PM Ilyas released a video message making it clear that the PTI had not named anyone as its candidate and accused the then-speaker of playing a double game.

“On one hand he was assuring PTI leaders that he was saving the party, and on the other hand he had struck a deal with the local establishment,” said Mr Ilyas, a reference to the powers that be, whom Asad Qaiser had also assailed with a veiled warning during his presser in Muzaffarabad a few days ago.

The final blow came when Mr Haq made it clear in his victory speech that the PTI was not in a position to win the election. Pervez Khattak then personally sent voice notes to many PTI legislators asking them to avoid attending the event. Nevertheless, there were at least 13 PTI legislators in attendance at the oath-taking ceremony.

Zaman Park huddle

Over the weekend, Mr Khattak informed PTI legislators that Imran Khan had invited the parliamentary party to his Zaman Park residence on Monday evening to discuss the situation.

Initially. it was assumed most members of the parliamentary party would make it to the Lahore meeting. But as it turned out, only seven – Khawaja Farooq Ahmed, Abdul Qayyum Niazi, Sardar Muhammad Hussain, Hamid Raza, Chaudhry Maqbool, Deevan Ghulam Mohiuddin and Iqbal Mao – drove to Zaman Park to meet with Mr Khan.

It was learnt that while President Mahmood recalled his supporters from halfway, Mr Ilyas had also avoided attending the meeting.

In a statement issued by his political adviser Iftikhar Rasheed, the former PM attributed the low turnout at the Zaman Park meeting to “undue interference, wrong information and strategy that have seriously damaged the party by dividing its clear majority and handing over a specific group to the PDM.”

“Therefore, PTI workers and legislators are not bound to attend meeting convened by Khattak or follow his viceroyalty style orders and messages,” the statement said, adding that Mr Ilyas would announce important political decisions in a couple of days after consulting with MLAs and senior party leaders.“

A statement issued after the meeting, however, hinted at the tough spot the party finds itself in.

Alongside Khawaja Farooq Ahmed’s appointment as the new leader of the opposition in AJK assembly, Imran Khan also named former premier Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi as the party’s new regional president in place of Sardar Tanveer Ilyas. Mr Khan also directed Mr Ahmed to summon a meeting of the parliamentary party, with strict instructions that only those who attend the meeting would be allowed to sit on the opposition benches, while those who stay away will have no connection with the PTI.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2023