Search form

You are here

  • Home
  • Internal strife rocks party of Pakistan’s Imran Khan as forward bloc speculations grow 


Internal strife rocks party of Pakistan’s Imran Khan as forward bloc speculations grow 

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Omar Ayub Khan (2L) and Ali muhammad Khan (R) along with party's chairman Gohar Ali Khan (C) take part in a protest rally for the release of their leader Imran Khan, in Peshawar on March 31, 2024. (AFP)
Short Url

https://arab.news/mdtnw

Updated 02 July 2024
Follow

Internal strife rocks party of Pakistan’s Imran Khan as forward bloc speculations grow 

  • Media has widely reported in recent weeks that nearly two dozen PTI lawmakers are considering forming a forward bloc 
  • Disgruntled PTI lawmaker says party leadership not allowing other members access to Khan in jail, making decisions in his name
Updated 02 July 2024
SAIMA SHABBIR

ISLAMABAD: A disgruntled lawmaker from the former Prime Minister Imran Khan-backed opposition has said frustrations with how the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was being run had reached a “breaking point” amid widespread reports at least two dozen lawmakers from the party were considering forming a forward bloc.

Speculations about a forward bloc within the PTI have been widely reported by Pakistani media in recent weeks, with reports suggesting up to 24 lawmakers could break off and form a forward bloc due to the party leaders’ failure to secure Khan’s release from jail and their blocking of access to the imprisoned former cricket star.

Last week, Omar Ayub Khan, the leader of the opposition in the national assembly and a close Khan aide, announced his resignation as PTI’s secretary general in a post on X, intensifying speculation about an internal rift within the party. PTI lawmaker Sher Afzal Marwat has recently demanded the resignation of PTI Senator Shibli Faraz, accusing him of preventing access to Khan. Lawmaker Junaid Akbar also resigned from the party’s core committee last week.

Khan has been in jail since August last year and faces a string of legal cases. At least four court convictions against him ruled the 71-year-old out of the February general elections as convicted felons cannot run for public office under Pakistani law. Arguably Pakistan’s most popular politician, Khan says all cases against him are motivated to keep him out of politics.

“Despite being members of the party’s core committee, we were unable to meet Imran Khan [in jail] and a few individuals repeatedly meet with him and come out narrating Khan’s decisions which always suit them but not the party or its supporters,” Junaid, who resigned from the PTI core committee last month, told Arab News in an interview this week.

He said party leaders were “under a lot of pressure” from supporters and their “frustration” with the situation had reached a “breaking point.”

“Many of us share these reservations, but we are not forming a forward bloc,” Junaid said. “However, we will not bear public criticism for decisions made by a certain group of individuals.”

He lamented that party members except a select few were not allowed to visit Khan in jail, and decisions were “imposed” on them in the name of the party founder. 

Most meetings with Khan are held by PTI Chairman Gohar Khan, who is also his lawyer, and a few others in the party. 

Junaid said many others in the PTI were also ready to resign like him over lack of access to Khan and not being involved in party decision-making, without naming the members. 

“Party is being run like a public limited company. Our question is: why are these people favored? Do they have more contribution to the party than us?” Junaid said. 

“The people who are favored and given high posts in the party haven’t done anything for Khan’s release.”

To ascertain the party’s stance, Arab News reached out to several party leaders including Gohar Khan, Omar Ayub Khan, close Khan aide Asad Qaiser, and Secretary Information Raoof Hassan. Hassan declined to comment while the others did not respond to Arab News queries.

“ONLY KHAN”

A former member of Khan’s cabinet who left the party last year, Fawad Chaudhry, said although rifts within the party were evident, the forward bloc would have little impact as the PTI’s support base was tied to Imran Khan.

He said the current leadership led by Gohar Khan lacked “political stature” and had been unable to maintain party unity. 

“Their insecurities have led them to restrict access to Khan, resulting in limited meetings and controlled information flow,” told Arab News.

“These issues [within the party] have surfaced because of their inability to manage the party effectively,” Chaudhry added. “Only Khan has the capacity to control and unify the party.”

Ahmed Bilal Mahboob, president of the Islamabad-based political think tank, the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency, endorsed Chaudhry’s view, saying the popularity of the PTI and its elected representatives “solely” depended on Khan.

“A forward block is not legally sustainable in our system and I doubt if deserters of the party will have any future,” he told Arab News.

“It is quite normal to have differences within a large political party especially when its prime unifying force, its leader, has been imprisoned for about a year, its officeholders are under pressure from police and intelligence agencies and there is a likelihood that agents of intelligence agencies are subverting the party from within.”

Mehboob advised the PTI to develop a “robust policy-making mechanism” and demonstrate that the leadership was “strongly backed” by Khan to ensure discipline in the party.

Following his removal from office in a parliamentary vote of no-trust, Khan and his PTI have been facing a state crackdown which intensified after May 2023 when the former prime minister was briefly arrested in a land graft case, leading his supporters to pour out on the streets in protests, rampaging government and military properties. 

Though Khan was released in less than 48 hours, thousands of party supporters and leaders were arrested, with more than 100 being tried in military courts.

Topics: Omar Ayub Khan Imran Khan PTI

PM Sharif urges nation to perform rain prayers as toxic smog chokes Pakistani cities

Updated 12 sec ago
Follow

PM Sharif urges nation to perform rain prayers as toxic smog chokes Pakistani cities

  • Shehbaz Sharif urges Islamic scholars to play their role in organizing ‘Istisqa’ prayers across the country
  • Toxic smog has enveloped Pakistan’s cultural capital, Lahore, and 17 other districts of Punjab province
Updated 12 sec ago
SAIMA SHABBIR

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has urged the nation to perform prayers for rainfall, calling on Islamic scholars to take the lead in organizing “Istisqa” prayers, his office announced on Thursday, as worsening air quality continues to endanger the health of millions.
The Istisqa prayer is a special Islamic ritual performed to seek rain, primarily during times of drought or severe water shortages. It symbolizes the community’s humility, repentance and reliance on divine mercy for sustenance.
Toxic smog has enveloped Pakistan’s cultural capital, Lahore, and 17 other districts in Punjab since last month. Health officials report that more than 40,000 people have sought treatment for respiratory illnesses, prompting Punjab authorities to close schools until November 17 to safeguard children’s health.
“PM Sharif appeals to the nation to offer Istisqa prayers for rain,” his office announced in a statement. “Scholars should especially play their role in organizing Istisqa prayers.”
The prime minister noted the rainfall would improve the environment apart from aiding in getting rid of diseases.
“Istisqa prayers should be organized in all mosques under the auspices of the federal government and the provinces,” he was quoted as saying. “In the current situation, there is a dire need for rain.”
A day earlier, Pakistan’s Meteorological Department forecast light rains from Nov. 14-16 in most districts of the country’s populous Punjab province.
The UN children’s agency has warned that the health of 11 million children in Punjab is in danger due to air pollution.
South Asia, particularly India and Pakistan, gets shrouded in intense pollution every winter as cold air traps emissions, dust, and smoke from farm fires.
Pollution could cut more than five years from people’s life expectancy in the region, according to a University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute study last year.
 

Topics: Shehbaz Sharif Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Pakistan rain Pakistan rains Pakistan Smog

Pakistan signs four-year pact with Global Green Growth Initiative to boost climate resilience

Updated 12 min 36 sec ago
Follow

Pakistan signs four-year pact with Global Green Growth Initiative to boost climate resilience

  • The agreement will help Pakistan’s transition to a green economy, address water scarcity and deforestation
  • Pakistan has ranked as the fifth most vulnerable country to climate change, with its cities engulfed in smog
Updated 12 min 36 sec ago
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has signed a four-year country program framework agreement with an international green economy organization to advance its sustainable development goals by enhancing climate resilience through green growth initiatives, according to an official statement released on Thursday.
The agreement was signed by Pakistan’s Climate Change Ministry Secretary, Aisha Humera Moriani, and the Global Green Growth Initiative’s (GGGI) Deputy Director-General, Helena McLeod, during a formal ceremony at the United Nations-led Global Climate Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Pakistan ranks as the fifth most vulnerable country to climate change, according to the Global Climate Risk Index. In 2022, catastrophic floods claimed over 1,700 lives, affected more than 33 million people, and caused economic losses exceeding $30 billion.
While international donors pledged over $9 billion last January to help Pakistan recover from the devastating floods, officials report that little of the pledged amount has been disbursed so far.
“The Ministry of Climate Change & Environmental Coordination and GGGI has signed a four-year Country Programme Framework agreement to advance Pakistan’s sustainable development goals through targeted climate action and green growth interventions,” said the official statement.
On the occasion, McLeod said her organization aimed to facilitate Pakistan’s transition to a green economy through collaboration with national stakeholders to address water scarcity, deforestation and energy challenges “compounded by climate change effects.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Coordinator on Climate Change Romina Khurshid Alam thanked the GGGI for engaging with Pakistan to “mobilize green finance, support climate action frameworks and promote investment” to achieve climate resilience.
Pakistan also regularly faces other climate change-induced effects such as droughts, cyclones, torrential rainstorms and heatwaves.
Currently, record-high air pollution levels have triggered hundreds of hospitalizations, school closures and stay-at-home orders in the eastern city of Lahore and other cities in the populous Punjab province, which has been enveloped in thick, toxic smog since last month.
A mix of low-grade fuel emissions from factories and vehicles, exacerbated by agricultural stubble burning, blanket Lahore and its surroundings each winter, trapped by cooler temperatures and slow-moving winds.
The city of 14 million people stuffed with factories on the border with India regularly ranks among the world’s most polluted cities, but it has hit record levels this month, as has New Delhi.
 

Topics: COP 29 Ministry of Climate Change Pakistan Arab News Pakistan

Army officer, soldier killed in southwest Pakistan clash that leaves three militants dead

Updated 30 min 7 sec ago
Follow

Army officer, soldier killed in southwest Pakistan clash that leaves three militants dead

  • Incident in Balochistan occurred after security forces reacted to militant presence in Harnai district
  • A Pakistan army major and a havildar lost their lives when an improvised explosive device blew up
Updated 30 min 7 sec ago
SAADULLAH AKHTER

QUETTA: An army officer and a soldier lost their lives in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Thursday, according to a statement from the military’s media wing, during an encounter that also left three militants dead.
Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has been the site of a low-level insurgency by separatist militants for over two decades. In August, ethnic nationalist militants carried out several coordinated attacks on civilian and military targets in the province, killing more than 50 people on August 25-26.
Most of the assaults were claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), the leading separatist group operating in the province, which is home to key China-led infrastructure projects, including a port and a gold-copper mine.
“On 14 Nov 2024, on reported presence of terrorists, planning to target innocent civilians in Harnai District, security forces under Major Muhammad Haseeb were immediately mobilized to sanitize the area,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) informed.
“Own troops effectively engaged the terrorists’ location and resultantly three terrorists were sent to hell,” it continued. “However, during the operation, an improvised explosive device exploded on the leading vehicle of security forces, resultantly, Major Muhammad Haseeb (age: 28 years, resident of District Multan), a brave officer, who was leading his troops from the front, along with Havildar Noor Ahmed (age: 38 years, resident of District Barkhan), having fought gallantly, made the ultimate sacrifice and embraced Shahadat [martyrdom].”
The incident comes just four days after a deadly suicide bombing at the Quetta railway station killed dozens of people, including army soldiers, and wounded several others.
A day earlier, security forces killed eight militants and injured six others during an intelligence-based operation in Pakistan’s restive northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.
KP has been predominantly targeted by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants, who have carried out attacks on security forces’ convoys and check posts, as well as killing and kidnapping officials and civilians in recent months.
The TTP leadership is reportedly based in neighboring Afghanistan, straining ties between Kabul and Islamabad, as Pakistani officials accuse the Afghan Taliban of “facilitating” cross-border militant attacks.
Afghanistan denies the allegations and has urged Pakistan to address its security challenges internally.
 

Topics: militancy in Pakistan Balochistan Attacks

Pakistani security forces kill eight militants in restive northwest

Updated 14 November 2024
Follow

Pakistani security forces kill eight militants in restive northwest

  • Army says six militants also injured during operation in Miran Shah area of North Waziristan
  • South Asian nation blames surge in militancy on TTP fighters operating out of Afghanistan
Updated 14 November 2024
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Security forces killed eight militants while six others sustained injuries during an intelligence-based operation in Pakistan’s restive northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military’s media wing said on Wednesday.
According to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the operation was conducted in the Miran Shah area of North Waziristan district.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders Afghanistan, has witnessed several attacks by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants who have targeted security forces’ convoys and check posts, besides killing and kidnapping officials and civilians in recent months.
“Security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation in general area Miran Shah, North Waziristan District on the reported presence of khwarij [militants],” the ISPR said.
“During the conduct of the operation, own troops effectively engaged khwarij’s location, as a result of which, eight khwarij were sent to hell, while six khwarij got injured.”
A “sanitization operation” was also conducted in the area to eliminate any other militants, it added.
Earlier this month on Nov. 10, Pakistani security forces killed four militants in two separate encounters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Prior to that, four Pakistani soldiers and five militants lost their lives in a gunbattle in South Waziristan’s Karama area.
The TTP leadership is said to be based in neighboring Afghanistan, affecting the ties between Kabul and Islamabad since the Pakistani officials have accused the Afghan Taliban of “facilitating” cross-border militant attacks.
Afghanistan denies the allegation and has urged Pakistan to resolve its security challenges internally.
 

Topics: TTP Pakistan Taliban Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan Inter Services Public Relations militancy in Pakistan

Maxwell’s power-hitting and Australia pace flatten Pakistan in a rain-shortened T20

Updated 54 min 46 sec ago
AP
Follow

Maxwell’s power-hitting and Australia pace flatten Pakistan in a rain-shortened T20

  • Match started after a three-hour delay and was shortened to seven over per side
  • Pakistan made 64-9 in response to Australia’s 93-4, losing five wicket in first 15 balls
Updated 54 min 46 sec ago
AP

BRISBANE: Glenn Maxwell’s robust 43 off 19 balls helped Australia thump Pakistan by 29 runs in a rain-shortened first Twenty20 on Thursday.
After a nearly three-hour delay due to lightning and rain, the match was shortened to seven overs per side.
Maxwell powered Australia to 93-4 and Pakistan reached only 64-9 after slumping to 16-5 inside the first 15 balls.
Nathan Ellis (3-9) and Xavier Bartlett (3-13) ran through the top order before No. 8 batter Abbas Afridi’s unbeaten 20.
“Certainly had a lot of fun out there,” Maxwell said. “We thought we had enough on the board … the bowlers did a great job. There was a few of us who had packed our bags expecting the game to be called off, so it was a mad rush to get ready.”

Pakistan’s Haris Rauf and Usman Khan (left), celebrate the dismissal of Australia’s Matt Short during the T20 cricket international between Pakistan and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, on November 14, 2024. (AP)

Maxwell followed scores of 0, 16, 0 in the preceding one-day international series won by Pakistan 2-1 by smacking three sixes and five boundaries. He played some extravagant lap shots to third man against the pace of Haris Rauf (1-21) and Naseem Shah (1-37).
Maxwell fell in the penultimate over when he hooked Abbas Afridi (2-9) to backward square leg but Marcus Stoinis provided a final flourish with an unbeaten 21 off seven balls. Stoinis smashed 20 runs in Shah’s last over with two fours and six.
None of the top six Pakistan batters reached double figures.
Sahibzada Farhan hit Spencer Johnson for two successive boundaries off the first two balls he faced before mistiming a pull shot off the fourth ball and holing out at midwicket.
Mohammad Rizwan, in his first match as the Pakistan skipper, fell to the first ball when he top-edged Bartlett to point. Usman Khan was caught at third man in the same over.
Ellis struck twice in his first over when Babar Azam was caught in the deep and Jake Fraser-McGurk snapped his third catch as Irfan Khan also offered a tame catch at deep midwicket.
Pakistan was 24-6 in the fourth over when Salman Ali Agha scored only 4 in his debut T20, guiding a sharp, short Bartlett delivery to Australia first-time captain Josh Inglis on the run.

Pakistan’s Abbas Afridi bats during the T20 cricket international between Pakistan and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, on November 14, 2024. (AP)

Leg-spinner Adam Zampa clean-bowled Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah off successive balls in the last over to complete the rout.
“It was difficult to keep things normal in a seven-over game,” Rizwan said. “Got to give credit to Maxy, his style worked really well.”

Australia’s Adam Zampa, right, celebrates with teammates after defeating Pakistan during the T20 cricket international between Pakistan and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia, on November 14, 2024. (AP)

The second T20 is in Sydney on Saturday, and the last in Hobart on Monday.

Topics: Pakistan cricket Pakistan cricket team Pakistan vs Australia T20I match

Latest updates

UEFA investigates English ref Coote over footage of alleged drug use at Euro 2024
NATO and the EU press China to help stop North Korea’s support for the war on Ukraine
Russia open to any Ukraine peace talks if Trump starts them, envoy says
PM Sharif urges nation to perform rain prayers as toxic smog chokes Pakistani cities
Lebanon says at least three killed in Israeli strike on Baalbek

Search form

Print Edition
Read pdf version Subscribe now
© 2024 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.