ISLAMABAD: Days after the announcement of schedule for upcoming general elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), in yet another controversial move, enlisted a new faction of PTI, headed by former defence minister Pervez Khattak, allowing the change of name of a political party that does not exist.

The ECP “has been pleased to allow to change the name of the party “Pakistan Tehreek-i-Islahat Pakistan” to “Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Parliamentarians (PTI-P)”, it said in a notification.

The notification includes a certificate of intra-party elections which shows that intra-party elections of the party took place on Dec 7 in which Mr Khattak was elected chairman and another former KP chief minister Mahmoud Khan vice chairman.

Other office-bearers of the party include Saleh Mohammad (presid­ent), Muzzaffar Sajid (vice presi­dent), Habib Noor (general secre­tary) and Irfanullah Khan Kundi (deputy secretary general).

Releases list of 175 political parties, showing Imran Khan as PTI chairman

The ECP’s notification is confusing as no party with the name of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Islahat was enlisted with it and that intra-par­­ty election certificate had purportedly been signed by Mr Khattak on Dec 8 as PTI-P chairman.

On the other hand, a party with the name of Tehreek-i-Islahat Party (TIP), which was there on the ECP list, was merged into PML-N in June.

Former MNA Shah Ji Gul Afridi had announced the merger, days after a meeting with the then prime minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The TIP was founded on Aug 14, 2021, with the main objective of initiating comprehensive reforms in the tribal districts and extending the same to the entire country.

However, on Sept 8, 2023, the ECP issued a notification about the conduct of intra-party elections for the post of TIP chairman, showing Habib Noor (now general secre­tary) as party chairman.

The certificate signed by Mr Noor annexed with a notification purportedly signed on June 15, 2023, said the last intra-party elections were held on Feb 13, 2020.

Malik Fazal and Azeemullah were shown as president and general secretary of the party, respectively.

Pervez Khattak, a close aide to ousted prime minister Imran Khan, announced the formation of a new political party, ‘Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Parliamentarians’, in July.

Mr Khattak, who had served as PTI’s secretary general and chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the PTI government, quit the post of the party’s provincial president soon after the May 9 mayhem.

A week before the formation of a new party, the PTI had terminated his membership over his failure to respond to a “show-cause notice”.

Mr Khattak was facing a legal difficulty in getting his party registered, a solution of which has now been found out.

List of 175 parties released

Interestingly, the ECP, which had reserved two separate judgements on PTI’s intra-party elections in past two days, also released a list of 175 political parties enli­sted with it, which still shows Imran Khan as PTI chairman.

The comm­ission asked no questions about the intra-party elections of Tehreek-i-Islahat, or the PTI-P, whatever it was, as nobody knows when, how and where these took place.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2023