Longtime activists and electives: Are all the leaders who parted ways with Tehreek-e-Insaf for the same reasons?
'I condemn the events of May 9.' Dozens of news conferences aired daily on TV channels in Pakistan for the past few days usually begin with these words. These news conferences held by the former leaders of Tehreek-e-Insaf end with the expression of 'indifference to Imran Khan' and then the announcement of leaving Tehreek-e-Insaf or politics.
After such 'sad-faced' press conferences, Tehreek-e-Insaaf's political opponents use these announcements for point-scoring, and it is claimed that leaders of other parties, while in opposition for months, and In a few cases, they suffered years of imprisonment but remained loyal to the party, while on the other hand, the leaders of Tehreek-e-Insaf, which was established 'unnaturally', left Imran Khan and Tehreek-e-Insaf after being detained for two or three days. Leaving.
According to political analysts, the events of May 9 are apparently proving to be a 'nightmare' for Tehreek-e-Insaaf and the party is in a state of disintegration.
According to him, the electives, or the politicians who joined the party before the 2018 election due to the popularity of Tehreek-e-Insaaf, are understandable, but the long-time workers of PTI like Asad Umar. , Shireen Mazari, Aamir Kayani, Imran Ismail, Saifullah Niazi, or Ali Zaidi parting ways is reinforcing the fear of 'irreparable loss' for PTI.
Many questions are being raised by the break-up in PTI, for example, what is the pressure, the severity of which is defeating the morale of some long-time leaders within a few days? The question is also being asked why the political leaders of Punjab are always on the front line of those who change their allegiance to the party. While the critical question is why the electives and the leaders who are considered as the 'face of the party' are breaking away from the party in a speed and manner and are their reasons the same or different?
Before knowing the answers to these questions, it is important to know how many leaders of Tehreek-e-Insaaf have left the party so far.
How many PTI leaders have left the party?
According to media reports, by the evening of May 27 i.e. Saturday, the number of those who left Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf had reached 87. It includes the former governor of Sindh, federal ministers, MNAs, provincial ministers, members of the provincial assembly, and other party officials.
Federal Capital: Islamabad
In the general elections of 2018, the candidates of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf won three National Assembly seats in the federal capital Islamabad, out of which two leaders have left PTI or announced their resignation from party positions.
Raja Khurram Nawaz, who was elected MNA from Islamabad, announced to leave Tehreek-e-Insaaf, while Asad Umar, who was elected from the federal capital itself, announced separating himself from all positions of the party.
Asad Umar was in PTI since 2012 and he started practical politics at PTI. Asad Umar was the Secretary General of Tehreek-e-Insaf and a member of the core committee. Asad was elected MNA for the first time from Islamabad constituency NA-48 in the 2013 by-election.
The departure of PTI's main leader from Islamabad and former Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari came as a surprise to many as she was considered to be the top leadership of the party. Shireen Mazari was a part of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf since 2008 and she was MNA twice on a PTI ticket on a reserved seat for women.
Punjab
The number of former federal ministers, MNEs, provincial ministers, and party officials who have parted ways with the party from Punjab has reached 56.
If we talk about the former PTI leaders of Punjab, Fawad Chaudhary had a central position in the party. Fawad has also been a federal minister in the PTI government and a senior vice president of the party. He joined PTI in 2016 and before that, he was part of various parties including Pervez Musharraf's APML.
Similarly, Imran Khan's 'long-time partner' Aamir Mehmood Kayani has also been an MNA on PTI ticket. Former federal minister Malik Amin Aslam, who belongs to Punjab, did not hesitate to leave the party. Amin Aslam joined PTI in 2011.
Similarly, former federal minister Khusro Bakhtiar, who joined Tehreek-e-Insaaf shortly before the elections in 2018, has also announced to leave the party.
Jamshed Iqbal Cheema, his wife Musrat Jamshed Cheema, Abrarul Haq, Senator Saifullah Niazi, Firdous Ashiq Awan, former provincial minister Fayyazul Hasan Chauhan, Faizullah Kamuka, ex-MNA Khawaja Qutb Fareed Koreja, former MNA Khurram Shehzad, including many important leaders of Punjab, have officially announced their separation from the party.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the process of party defeat seems to be a bit slow. Ten politicians belonging to this province have separated from Tehreek-e-Insaaf so far.
Former MNA Malik Jawad Hussain from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, former MNA Usman Khan Turkai and former provincial minister Hashim Inamullah, former provincial minister, Iqbal Wazir, Ajmal Wazir, Dr Haider Ali, and other leaders have parted ways with the party.
Sindh
The number of those who left Tehreek-e-Insaf or politics has reached 17, including former governor Imran Ismail from Sindh. According to political analysts, when it comes to Sindh, former Sindh Governor Imran Ismail's departure from the party can be considered a big blow as he was one of the founding members of Tehreek-e-Insaaf. Similarly, former federal minister Ali Zaidi was also counted among the long-time activists of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf. Apart from this, Jaiprakash, Saima Nadeem, Aftab Siddiqui, Mahmood Baki Maulvi, etc. have announced leaving the party from Sindh.
Balochistan
Two former leaders of Tehreek-e-Insaf from Balochistan have also announced to leave the party, including Senator Abdul Qadir and former provincial minister Mubeen Khalji.
Apart from these leaders, some leaders from the federal capital and four provinces have also announced to leave the party which was district-level officials.
Electables who joined PTI before the 2018 elections
Regarding those who left the party from Punjab, Tehreek-e-Insaf claims that the majority of them are those who joined Tehreek-e-Insaf before the 2018 elections only because of its popularity and that these are the same people from Punjab. Some electables have a reputation for changing their political allegiances before each election.
Before the 2018 election, Tehreek-e-Insaf relied on electives to win despite criticism. In the 2018 elections, PTI won 64 seats in the National Assembly from Punjab, of which 47 MNAs were those who had joined Tehreek-e-Insaf shortly before the 2018 general elections by changing their political loyalties, while 17 MNAs were either long-time workers of Tehreek-e-Insaaf or those who had contested on PTI ticket in the 2013 election as well. There were a few leaders who joined PTI after contesting elections as independents.
Before the 2018 elections, several leaders joined PTI from the platform of South Punjab province. The majority of them were politicians who resigned from PML-N on April 9, 2018, and formed a separate faction in the name of 'South Punjab Province Front'.
Initially, they included Khusro Bakhtiar, Tahir Bashir Cheema, Rana Qasim Noon, and Basit Bukhari, while at the provincial level, Nasrullah Dreshk (who later contested the National Assembly election on a PTI ticket) and Samira Khan were included. This faction was formed under the leadership of former Caretaker Prime Minister Balkh Sher Mazari.
Among those who joined the PTI after winning the seat as an independent, are Salih Muhammad Khan (Constituency NA 13, Mansehra), Muhammad Sanaullah Khan Mastikhel (Constituency NA 97, Bhakkar), Syed Fakhr Imam (Constituency NA 97, Bhakkar). NA 150, Khaniwal) Muhammad Asim Nazir (Constituency NA 101, Faisalabad) Muhammad Shabbir Ali (Constituency NA 181, Muzaffargarh) Muhammad Amjad Farooq Khan Khosa (Constituency NA 190, DG Khan) were included.
There were some MNAs of PTI who left their respective parties and joined PTI over the issue of Khatman Nabuwat, including Raza Nasrullah Ghaman (Constituency NA 105, Faisalabad) in December 2017. He announced his resignation.
Ghulam Bibi Bharwana (Constituency NA 115 Jhang) joined PTI on 18 May 2018. Tahir Iqbal Chaudhary (Constituency NA 164, Wahari) announced his separation from PML-N on 27 November 2017. He joined PTI in May 2018.
Is the pressure on Tehreek-e-Insaaf's long-time workers and electives the same?
The leaders who left the PTI after May 9 are of two types, one who was considered a long-time and reliable ally of Imran Khan and those who changed loyalties every election.
But is there a pressure on all of them to leave the party? On this question, senior journalist and analyst Sohail Waraich say that 'everyone is under pressure to leave the party, but it is very important to look at the background in this regard.'
According to him, those who left the party (loyal leaders) have a military background in some way. As Asad Umar's father was a general, Fawad Chaudhry hails from the Jhelum district and the area has a certain uniqueness in terms of the army. How did Ali Zaidi come to Tehreek-e-Insaf? All these people are from the same background. Their problem is ideological as well as interest. These are the people who may have suffered from fighting with the army.
Sohail Waraich says that the problem of long-term workers is also ideological. They do not want to fight with the army. They want to do politics and stay in power, while these long-time workers were also killed in front of the army.
Political analyst Dr. Syed Jafar Ahmad describes the pressure and situation on these leaders in a very clear and different way.
According to him, there are three types of people who leave PTI. Those who see the direction of the wind, these people, seeing the direction of the wind in the 2018 election, even returned the PML-N ticket because they knew that in the 2018 election, the establishment was not with the PML-N but with the Tehreek-e-Insaaf. was '
According to him, those who are long-time workers of PTI and those who are leaving the party are also of two types. One is those people, who were angry with Imran Khan's behavior, that is, Imran Khan gave orders without listening to senior leaders, what happened in the party was what these people had reservations about. The statement that such people are giving now while leaving the party shows that they were neither tortured nor pressured to leave the party and apparently they got fed up with Imran Khan's behavior. Seizing the opportunity, he left the party.
Others are those who are saddened by the events of May 9, such as Abrar-ul-Haq. These people represent the young generation. They were captives of the dream that Imran had shown at a young age, but they did not know that a so-called revolution would also come along the way.
Syed Jafar Ahmed Shireen Mazari and Firdous Ashiq Awan's process of leaving the party is also different. According to him, Shireen Mazari faced difficulties and the pressure continued to increase on him, while Firdous Ashiq Awan probably did not have any special pressure. .'
According to Dr. Syed Jafar Ahmad's opinion, Asda Umar is an educated politician. He knows that what happened and is happening is not right.
Senior analyst Dr. Hasan Askari Rizvi explains several factors behind the pressure and separation from the party.
According to him, 'Most people are those who got the idea of the Rising Sun in 2017 and 2018 and joined it. Then the people of the recent provincial assembly who did not get tickets are also among those who left.
According to Hasan Askari Rizvi, there was pressure on the long-time activists that "why should they accept the violence of May 9, which was of an unusual nature, the long-time activists did not want to take the blame for it." If he had borne this pressure, it might have become a cause of eternal infamy.