By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan, the imprisoned founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the country’s former prime minister, has dissolved the party’s sprawling political committee amid simmering internal disputes, marking his first significant intervention in party affairs after weeks of isolation.
The announcement, posted on Khan’s account on X, came despite his lack of direct access to social media from prison. It directed the party’s secretary general, Salman Akram Raja, to oversee the creation of a leaner replacement body tasked with shaping and executing political strategy. “I am dissolving the political committee of the PTI today. Party’s Secretary General Salman Akram Raja has full authority to form a smaller committee to formulate a political strategy and implement it,” the post read, attributing the decision to a meeting held that day.
The move followed a rare prison visit on Monday by Uzma Khan, Khan’s sister, who had sought the meeting for weeks. Sheikh Waqqas Akram, the PTI’s information secretary, said the existing committee, which includes about 40 members, would give way to a more compact group. He said the new body was likely to comprise provincial heads, opposition leaders and a handful of other key figures, signaling an effort to streamline operations after internal frictions had been resolved.
The dissolution underscores the PTI’s ongoing leadership vacuum. The Election Commission of Pakistan has repeatedly rejected the party’s intra-party elections, leaving it without an elected core committee. In the absence of such a structure, the political committee has managed the party’s routine functions.
Asad Qaiser, a senior PTI leader and former speaker of the National Assembly, said the idea of scrapping the committee had been discussed repeatedly among members. One key reason, he explained, was that its decisions were prone to leaks. “The timing of the decision did not matter since the proposal had been under consideration for some time,” Qaiser said. He added that a new coordination committee, drawing from provincial and central leaders as well as allies, would take its place.
The shake-up arrives against a backdrop of recent internal tensions. A party memo issued not long ago sought to concentrate authority in Raja’s office as secretary general. Insiders criticised the directive, viewing it as an bid to “end democracy and silence dissent” within the PTI.
In the same announcement, Khan designated Shahid Khattak as the new parliamentary leader in the National Assembly, replacing Zartaj Gul, who was convicted earlier this year. He also empowered Chief Minister Sohail Afridi of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to restructure the Insaf Lawyers Forum, the party’s legal wing.
Khan’s directives extended to rebuking party members for engaging with perceived adversaries. “The participation of PTI people in the NDU workshop is shameful,” his post stated, referring to a recent event at the National Defence University. “On the one hand, we are enduring all kinds of hardships, and on the other hand, when our own people try to increase social ties with those who oppress us, I feel extremely hurt.”
The comment appeared aimed at several PTI leaders who attended the workshop, an appearance that drew sharp criticism on social media, especially over the “socialisation” at the gathering. Shafiullah Jan, the PTI’s spokesperson in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said the leaders had joined after their names were put forward by the parliamentary committee and the provincial assembly’s speaker. “In future, such decisions will be taken following the approval of the leadership,” Jan said.
The developments reflect broader strains within the PTI as it faces legal battles, arrests and political isolation since Khan’s ouster in 2022. His incarceration on charges ranging from corruption to inciting unrest has left the party reliant on intermediaries and social media to relay his instructions, even as supporters rally against what they call a crackdown by the military-backed establishment.
Party officials have not detailed a timeline for the new committee’s formation, but the changes are expected to reshape how the PTI coordinates its opposition to the current government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
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