Fawad Ch regrets KP, Punjab govts’ mum over party leadership’s arrest.
ISLAMABAD - The internal rifts within Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) over the handling of the incidents surrounding the arrest of party leader Shahbaz Gill by the Islamabad police came into the limelight on Tuesday as Fawad Chaudhry lashed out at his party’s provincial governments for remaining silent over the arrest of party workers.
Former federal minister and PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry criticized his party’s provincial governments in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and said that PTI despite being in power in both the provinces have disappointed the party workers in difficult times.
“I want to make it clear to our provincial governments that the people have not voted for them just to become ministers,” he said while talking to Twitter.
He underlined that be it the attempts to arrest Chairman PTI Imran Khan, or the incidents surrounding the May 25 protest march of the PTI, or arrest and torture of Shahbaz Gill and other political workers; both the provincial governments have disappointed the party workers.
The former minister while referring to the federal government led by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said that those people ruling over just a 25 kilometers area of Islamabad were acting like “rogues”.
Sources aware of the development told The Nation that differences within the party exist over the handling of the issue of arrest of Gill and the registration of cases against the party leadership by the Islamabad police.
According to the insiders, some senior leaders of the party are facing criticism within the party for not openly talking about the arrest of Gill by the Islamabad police on charges of sedition and inciting the public against the state institutions. The critics are also of the view that the provincial governments of PTI should have also registered cases against the leadership of ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) in the same manner the party leadership have been booked by the Islamabad Police in different cases. Similarly, there are also differences between the Punjab government and the PTI leadership on the issue of taking action against those officials of Punjab Police who were allegedly involved in the high-handedness of PTI workers during its May 25 protest march. A senior PTI leader commenting on the statement of Chaudhry said that he had actually tried to convey the sentiments of the workers to the party leadership and the provincial governments.