WHEN Imran Khan announced the intra-party elections of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in March 2013, months before the national elections, many eyebrows were raised. The step took away focus from the party’s nationwide campaign and triggered tension after many key members fought for the party’s top slots.

Soon after the party elections, allegations were made that several party stalwarts had used their money and influence with chairman Khan to manipulate the elections. Surprisingly, though, Khan remained unmoved — until the uproar started damaging the party from within.

Later, both these factors impacted the party’s performance in the national elections on May 11, 2013.

Eventually, he was compelled to heed the grumblings and formed an internal election tribunal in December 2013, under senior party member retired Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed.

Justice Ahmed did not mince his words when he wrote the verdict in October 2014, directing the dissolution of all elected bodies and the holding of new party elections before March 18, 2015. Among other trusted guards of Khan, he hit out at the core committee of the party and its secretary general, Jehangir Tareen.

Know more: PTI election tribunal meets, ignoring Imran’s dissolution order

When Khan failed to implement the ruling, Justice Ahmed, as the head of the tribunal, summoned him in person for an explanation. But instead of satisfying the commission, the party chairman dissolved the tribunal, on April 25 commenting that it had “effectively ceased to exist and its members became functus officio, with no further powers as the tribunal was constituted for a specific purpose”.

But Justice Ahmed announced that he would continue looking into the matter, sparking off a battle of notices and counter-notifications. Resultantly, Khan is now pitched against a commission he himself constituted.

“Khan should have implemented the tribunal’s orders because he himself formed it to probe the matter,” said a senior leader of the party who supports what Justice Ahmed’s tribunal had ordered.

Insiders believe that the majority of the party’s members are annoyed with the chairman’s approach of defending his ‘cronies’ against the commission’s ruling.

Retired Brigadier Samson Simon Sharaf, a member of the committee which is drafting a new constitution of the party and an elected secretary of the PTI, believes that the party suffered for obliging the elites and ignoring genuine workers — many of whom are among the petitioners in the tribunal.

“In the last by-election [NA-246] against all expectations, why did the PTI fall well short in terms of statistics? Is it sweet revenge for overlooking grass-roots workers in favour of big names or are the reasons different?” he wrote in a recent article.

Talking to this reporter, Brig Sharaf said that a few individuals on key positions have misled Khan in order to protect themselves.

“When the chairman had agreed to appear before the tribunal, he should have appeared. Because he did not appear, the cycle of the tribunal’s activity hasn’t been completed. It shows the core committee doesn’t have its finger on the pulse of the public.”

But another senior founding member of the party, who has faced the brunt of the fluctuating moods of Khan and his circle of close aides, believes that Justice Ahmed is being used by a few disgruntled party members.

“Justice Ahmed has not ruled against the person who conducted the party elections,” said the leader who lost the party elections for a top position. “If the elections were a fraud, how can the chief election commissioner remain fair in the process? There are three people in the party — a leading legal wizard, a senior female member of the party and another senior member who belongs to Khan’s own clan — and they are against Tareen and company. They are using Justice Ahmed against the central leadership,” he commented. “It’s not possible for chairman Khan to apply the verdicts of the tribunal. The tribunal has asked that those running the affairs of the party be expelled. How is that possible?”

Hamid Khan, the election commissioner who supervised the 2013 party polls, supports this system of internal accountability.

“The internal system of accountability in the party is a healthy sign and it should be promoted,” he said. Questioned how come he escaped the clutches of this accountability system, he said that the action was taken against the candidates who committed wrongdoing. “It was not the election commission that committed rigging. It was the candidates.”

He hopes, though, that the matter will be resolved amicably and internally. “Let them [Khan and Justice Ahmed] find a solution,” he added. “I hope it will be resolved internally.”

Justice Ahmed, however, appears to be in no mood to give up.

“I can’t say anything about it because these are pending judicial matters. Many people in Pakistan say one thing and do something else and you don’t expect this [of them]. So I will not do this and can’t give you even a hint about the matter. I am sorry,” he said before conducting another hearing of the tribunal after the dissolution notification issued by Khan.

Journalist Mazhar Abbas thinks the dispute has just started.

“Justice Ahmed is a man of principles,” he said. “Had he been convinced that he was wrong, he would have accepted Khan’s notification to dissolve the tribunal. The real bone of contention is Tareen. Many people accuse him of manipulating things and don’t see fair party elections in his presence as secretary general. So let’s see whether Justice Ahmed resigns after making a very strong observation about party affairs or whether they expel him — which would be very embarrassing for Khan.”

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2015

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