PTI's internal rifts sideline governance

Express Tribune

02-03-2025

Envision a hospital where two doctors are embroiled in an ugly tussle over competency. As time goes by, more medics start picking sides and what originated as a minor dispute, spreads throughout the facility. With the executive nonchalant, the resultant polarization aggravates to the point where the medical staff no longer remembers its true job, and patients start dying.
This hypothetical hospital is not much different from the PTI government in K-P, where internal differences among leaders have distracted the party from its fundamental duty of alleviating the suffering of its people.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) is in power for the third consecutive time in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) however, disputes over legitimacy among the leaders have persisted throughout the current tenure. The founder of PTI has removed the provincial president, Ali Amin Gandapur, from his party post.
Since Gandapur is also the Chief Minister of the province, his removal from the position has led to divisions within the PTI. Junaid Akbar, the newly appointed president, along with MNA Atif Khan and MNA Arbab Sher Ali, are part of a faction that has altered the political landscape of K-P.
According to sources from within PTI, the party currently has two factions: the Gandapur group and the Junaid Akbar-Atif Khan group. Gandapur's faction includes Sher Afzal Marwat and other members. The expulsion of Sher Afzal Marwat from the party was a major setback for this group.
Despite holding the position of Chief Executive of the province, opposition to Gandapur within the party was intensifying. The divisions within PTI were evident during a recent Swabi rally, where Marwat was neither given a chance to speak nor allowed to sit on stage.
Likewise, Mashal Yousafzai, the spokesperson of PTI founder's wife, Bushra Bibi, was removed from the position of advisor to the chief minister. Similarly, the positions of other ministers in the cabinet were also changed for the third time while dozens of PTI workers in jails continue to await bail.
Political analysts are of the opinion that factionalism developing within the ruling party, PTI, was detrimental to the province's economic situation especially since K-P was already being used as the breeding ground for rebellion against the federation.
According to Hafeez Ullah Khan, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, K-P's political situation is worsening since the province has become a buffer zone due to conflicts between the bureaucracy, provincial, and federal governments. "Internal disputes over power sharing have resulted in the formation of various factions within the party.
Moreover, nepotism and non-existent participation in international politics have further undermined its legitimacy," explained Khan.
Khan further highlighted the fact that the province was suffering across various sectors, including health, education, education, and law and order since the provincial government had stopped providing funds to local body members, leading to protests and blockades. "The K-P government has also taken land from colleges and universities while simultaneously halting promised projects. There are 28 universities with no permanent vice chancellors. Similarly, the province's roads are also in a state of rack and ruin. Changing the name of a cricket stadium will not alleviate the suffering of the local population," noted Khan.
Conversely, PTI's Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram claimed that differences of opinion existed in every political party however, the situation in PTI was being exaggerated. "During the Islamabad protest, about 1,000 of our workers were arrested, of which 500 party workers hailed from Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa. Our workers imprisoned in jails are not even allowed to meet their relatives," criticized Akram.