By Staff Reporter
PESHAWAR: Two of Imran Khan’s most senior lieutenants have accused each other in public of damaging Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), exposing deep fractures in the jailed former prime minister’s party after the collapse of its Islamabad march and the imposition of governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Salman Akram Raja, the party’s secretary general, described those spreading suspicion within its ranks as “snakes and snakelets” in a post on X. Ali Amin Gandapur, the former chief minister of the province, responded by demanding that he withdraw the remark, substantiate his allegations and apologise to the party’s elected representatives and workers.
Party chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan stepped in to contain the row, urging leaders to show restraint, settle their differences internally and stay united behind Khan.
Raja’s post warned members against conspiracy-driven narratives meant to sow suspicion and division over the provincial government and its leadership. Referring to those behind them, he said the “snakes and vipers” would be defeated.
He rejected claims that 68 PTI members of the provincial assembly were preparing to announce a new chief minister or had cut contact with the incumbent, Sohail Afridi, and his team. Raja said Afridi remained chief minister under the law and the Constitution. He said Junaid Akbar remained provincial party president, with Ali Asghar Khan acting in his absence.
In an alleged leaked audio recording, Gandapur called the remarks “regrettable, irresponsible and damaging” to party unity. His spokesman, Faraz Mughal, confirmed that the voice on the recording was the former chief minister’s.
Gandapur demanded that Raja delete his post and explain who the “undemocratic decision makers” were. “First, make it clear who these people are,” he said, challenging the secretary general to name the lawmakers and others allegedly trying to choose the provincial party president or chief minister without the approval of Khan or the party’s political committee. “If you have evidence, name them.”
He questioned the basis for claims that a group of lawmakers had stopped communicating with Afridi’s team, a development that could pave the way for an emergency or governor’s rule. He also asked who had authorised an alleged investigation and Ali Asghar Khan’s reported appointment as acting provincial president, asking why the party had not been told and where the formal notification was.
Gandapur wished Akbar a speedy recovery. He defended the province’s leadership and workers, saying they had stood by Khan through arrests and violence after the 9 May 2023 unrest and had delivered victory in the 2024 general election. He criticised some central office-bearers for contributing little during the marches towards Islamabad and called for accountability.
“This party belongs to the founder,” he said. “We do not need loyalty certificates from anyone, nor does anyone have the authority to pass judgments on our political loyalty or hand us certificates of treason.” Commitment, he argued, should be judged by sacrifice and practical contribution.
Barrister Gohar contacted Gandapur, Raja and Ali Asghar Khan, asking them to avoid public statements on internal disputes and to resolve matters through consultation. He said decisions rested with Khan and reaffirmed that Afridi would remain PTI’s chief minister. He also praised the party’s assembly members for standing by its founder.
The row follows reports that a group of lawmakers from the provincial assembly had met to back Gandapur as acting provincial president in place of Akbar, a member of the National Assembly who has been missing since governor’s rule was imposed. A handwritten note addressed to Barrister Gohar and Raja said the meeting “unanimously” proposed the former chief minister as “the right man for the right job”.
According to one participant, the meeting took place on 14 October over Zoom and WhatsApp and was attended by about 55 provincial lawmakers. Its agenda covered party organisation, the status of negotiations with the government, plans for further protests and legal issues. It was the demand for Gandapur’s immediate appointment that drew Raja’s derision.
The two men have history. Khan removed Gandapur as provincial party president in January 2025, naming Akbar in his place. Gandapur then resigned as chief minister in October 2025 on Khan’s directive, after a public quarrel with Khan’s sister, Aleema Khan. Raja announced at the time that Afridi would replace him.
The recriminations come at a perilous moment for the party. The federal government imposed an emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on 11 October, citing the provincial government’s deliberate disengagement from the fight against terrorism. The measures were imposed under Articles 232 and 234 of the Constitution. The National Assembly and Senate endorsed the move on 14 October, and a joint sitting of parliament approved it the next day. Governor Faisal Karim Kundi now runs the province with the help of an 11-member technocratic advisory council.
A senior PTI leader who attended a core committee meeting on Saturday painted a less ordered picture than the party’s public line. Speaking to local media, the leader said the session ran from after 10pm until after 2am and that 16 members spoke, with the rest due to follow in later sessions.
The leader said Raja pressed for a discussion of how the march date had been announced. Afridi had called a meeting in the province in August attended by Barrister Gohar, Raja, Asad Qaiser, Shafiullah Jan, Mina Khan, Shahid Khatak and Taimur Jhagra. The date later leaked to some vloggers, and when criticism followed that neither the political committee nor the core committee had discussed it, both were convened on the same day. Mr Afridi announced the date at a public meeting that evening.
The leader claimed the leadership was kept in the dark about the operational plan for the protest and the broader negotiating strategy. “It was also revealed that Afridi was asked a number of times what the plan was, but he kept his cards close to his chest,” the leader said.
The meeting also heard that Raja asked Ali Asghar Khan, head of the coordination committee for the march, why the party had not gone ahead after Afridi’s arrest. Ali Asghar Khan said he knew of no such plan and that he had asked Afridi and Akbar repeatedly but was told details would follow.
That angered several members, the leader said, because more than 1,400 workers and leaders had been detained under the Maintenance of Public Order law while the provincial party had no plan.
Another leader said Haleem Adil Sheikh had acknowledged that the opposition was 70 percent responsible for the failure of talks and the government 30 percent. The agreement was finalised, the leader said, after Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi brought an amended text that both sides accepted without consulting Khan. A call from Afridi followed, saying no meeting could be held without consulting Khan first.
The committee also discussed reports that Barrister Gohar had approved district-level offices for the Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Ayeen-e-Pakistan opposition alliance (TTAP), the source claimed. Raoof Hasan objected, and Barrister Gohar said he had given no such approval. Seemabia Tahir proposed another march, but most members said it was not feasible in the circumstances.
Mr Raja played down talk of a rift in a post on X last Sunday. “There should be no ambiguity,” he wrote, calling Afridi “a brave young man” who had stayed true to Khan’s ideology. He said the administrative aspects of the march needed critical review, and accused critics of presenting committee discussions “out of context”.
In a separate statement, Akram called on the government to take confidence-building measures. His demands included reversing what the party calls unlawful measures, restoring its provincial mandate and releasing political prisoners. He also asked for Khan to have lawful meetings with lawyers and family, timely hearings in his and his wife’s cases, and treatment under the supervision of his own physicians.
“If the government was genuinely serious about dialogue, it should take steps to build trust,” Akram said.
He rejected remarks by Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, who said on Tuesday that a formal ban on PTI was no longer needed because it had “lost power” in the province over security failures. Mr Akram challenged the ruling coalition parties to contest elections against PTI under a single banner and predicted a “crushing defeat in a free and fair contest, even today”.
He described governor’s rule as an “attempt to undermine the province’s electoral mandate”. No “handpicked administration should be allowed to dictate” the future of about 50 million people, he said.
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