Disgruntled insiders claim senior figures “compromised” due to threats to families and businesses. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) is mired in an existential crisis as infighting among senior figures has left the party virtually “leader-less” and factionalism is beginning to take root. • Rank and file members are “frustrated” with decisions coming from the top echelons and feel they have “abandoned Imran.”
Even though spokespersons for the party would have us believe that everything is going well and that minor disagreements are a normal part of the political process, the truth is that the members of the party are angry with their leaders, and they have good reasons for being angry.
At least in the eyes of fervent workers and activists, the leadership cadres’ actions over the past few weeks have given the impression that they have “abandoned Imran Khan” and deviated from the protest path that he had ordained.
A reasonable illustration of this was Lawyer Gohar Ali Khan’s position on Tuesday’s “guaranteed” clinical assessment of Mr Khan; By preventing the founder’s personal physician from entering the Adiala jail, party adherents maintained that the government had broken its promise.
However, Barrister Gohar gave the impression that a Pims medical examination had been planned from the beginning. The PTI chairman declared that “all was well,” possibly in response to a rare letter from Jemima Goldsmith in which she expressed concern over the fact that her ex-husband had not been permitted to speak with his sons in accordance with court orders.
A larger part of party laborers appear to be most annoyed by the example of fights being called and afterward dropped by their initiative. This is intensified by the way that different groups — drove by individual power-mongers — host sprung up inside the gathering without a trace of a focal initiative and are continually in conflict with each other.
For instance, when Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur despite all odds led a caravan of protesters to Islamabad, the party’s KP chapter was seen praising their Punjabi counterparts for not acting in the same manner.
In a similar vein, Punjab cadres took the initiative to announce a protest for October 15 in conjunction with the crucial SCO summit after the government initially refused to allow meetings with Imran Khan in Adiala jail.
Many people in Punjab believe that this threat caused the government to soften its tone and that the leadership should have used it to fulfill any demands they had. Be that as it may, on Tuesday, the party apparently withdrew, neglecting to protect gatherings with specialists and relatives as initially requested.
Even though there is a lot of talk on social media about disagreements, arguments, and bad blood between various party leaders from across the country, such as a recent rumored spat between Mr. Gandapur and the party’s leader in Punjab, Hammad Azhar, some leaders blame the actions of the government rather than their own flaws.
Shaukat Basra, the PTI Punjab Information Secretary, stated that this was not unusual for a large party like the PTI. She acknowledged that there were groups within the party.
