Embittered PM selects new office-bearers for PTI; Umar made secretary general

ISLAMABAD: A day after the dissolution of the party’s organizational bodies all over the country, Prime Minister Imran Khan Saturday revamped the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as he appointed its new secretary general and provincial presidents.

In a tweet, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the prime minister has appointed Planning Minister Asad Umar as PTI’s secretary general whereas Amir Mehmood Kiyani will take charge as additional secretary general of the party.

Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak will lead the PTI in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ali Zaidi will be its Sindh president, Qasim Suri will head the Balochistan chapter, whereas Shafqat Mehmood and Khusro Bakhtyar will head Punjab and south Punjab chapters of the party, respectively.

A day earlier, following a crushing defeat in KP’s local government elections, PM Khan had abolished the intra-party structures and removed all office holders, including chief organizers.

PTI dissolves organisational structure following setback in KPK local govt polls: Fawad

He had expressed dissatisfaction over his party’s performance, especially the nepotism and favouritism in the recent local government elections in which it lost several seats.

The information minister had said the premier had formed a 21-member committee, comprising senior leaders of the party, who had been assigned the task of restructuring and formulating a new party constitution.

During the presser, the minister had drawn parallels between the PTI and other opposition parties, adding there is no concept of family politics in the PTI as PM Khan has never allowed personal relationships to dominate his mission in his political as well as cricketing careers.

After the defeat in the LBs elections, PM Imran had admitted that the PTI had made mistakes in the first phase of the elections and pinned the blame on wrong candidate selection.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021