By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan’s party is turning on itself less than two weeks after Islamabad seized control of its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa stronghold, with a senior official resigning and two of its leading figures trading public insults.
The row broke into the open on Wednesday, when Salman Akram Raja, secretary general of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), posted on X that “those spreading doubts – the snakes and the serpents – will be defeated”. Other outlets translated the phrase differently, as “snakes and vipers” and “snakes and snakelets”.
Ali Amin Gandapur, the former chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, responded in a series of posts and audio messages, demanding that Raja apologise and accusing him of “hiding” during the party’s protest movement. Faraz Mughal, a spokesman for Mr Gandapur, confirmed that the voice on a leaked recording of the criticism was his.
The party’s additional secretary general, Firdous Shamim Naqvi, had announced his resignation a day earlier. He said the decision was not driven by resentment or disagreement, and that he had not issued a show-cause notice to Senator Mashal Yousafzai despite being told to do so. PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan declined to accept the resignation and returned it, citing Naqvi’s roughly 30 years with the party.
On Thursday, Yousafzai left the WhatsApp groups of the parliamentary party and the core committee after a heated exchange with Gohar and Raja, according to Dawn newspaper. A source told the newspaper she had expressed a lack of trust in the leadership over its failure to secure Khan’s release, and that Gohar had threatened her with expulsion from the group. Sheikh Waqas Akram, the party’s information secretary, said she had left “in the heat of the moment” and that he hoped the matter would be resolved soon.
The infighting follows a calamitous few weeks for the party. On 11 October, the federal government imposed an emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with President Asif Ali Zardari approving the move on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The step came as the PTI prepared a march on Islamabad to demand Khan’s release from prison. The long march fizzled out in Swabi days later.
The PTI says Sohail Afridi, the chief minister until the takeover, and other party leaders are under arrest. The provincial assembly speaker, Babar Saleem Swati, is also in detention. Shehbaz has defended the move, describing it as a “now or never” moment.
The immediate trigger for the latest dispute was a meeting of PTI members of the provincial assembly. A handwritten note said about 55 lawmakers met on 14 October and unanimously proposed Gandapur as acting provincial party president, in place of Junaid Akbar, who has been missing since governor’s rule began.
Raja’s post rejected claims that 68 PTI assembly members were preparing to name a new chief minister or had cut contact with Afridi’s team. He said Afridi remained chief minister under the law and the Constitution, and that Ali Asghar Khan, the provincial general secretary, was acting as provincial president in Akbar’s absence. He accused the group of severing ties with Afridi in the final days of the march, paving the way for state coercion.
Gandapur called the remarks “regrettable, irresponsible and damaging” and demanded that Raja delete the post and name those he accused. “If you have evidence, name them,” he said. He asked who had authorised an investigation, and where the notification appointing Asghar was.
He defended the province’s leadership and workers, saying they had stood by Khan despite arrests and violence after the unrest of 9 May 2023, and won the 2024 general election. He also criticised some central office-bearers for their contribution to the marches on Islamabad. “We do not need loyalty certificates from anyone,” he said.
Gohar moved to calm tensions, telephoning Gandapur, Raja, Waqas Akram and Asghar and asking them to stop criticising one another publicly. He told reporters at Parliament House that Akbar remained provincial president, that senior vice-president Noorul Haq Qadri would chair meetings in his absence, and that Asghar would oversee other organisational matters. A notification was expected within a day or two.
“Sohail Afridi is our chief minister,” Gohar said, adding that no decision on the province could be taken without Khan’s approval. He praised the party’s provincial legislators, saying the PTI was proud of them, and said Raja’s tweet had been taken out of context.
The PTI parliamentary party in the provincial assembly held an online meeting on Wednesday and backed talks with the government and the establishment to restore the provincial government. Some members complained that the leadership had not consulted them on strategy. Amir Dogar, the party’s chief whip, said any attempt to replace Afridi without Khan’s approval would amount to “stabbing the party in the back”.
The two men have a history. Gandapur was removed as chief minister in October 2025 on Khan’s orders, with Afridi named as his successor. Khan had also censured senior figures that year for airing internal differences on social media, calling the practice entirely unacceptable.
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