Bushra-Aleema “rift” takes center stage as workers grow disillusioned with incumbent leadership.
The rank and file of the PTI are growing increasingly disillusioned with the current party leadership, accusing them of complacency in their efforts to secure the release of party founder Imran Khan. His absence has led to a significant power vacuum within the party.
The resulting intra-party struggles have formed two power centers within PTI, with Imran’s sister Aleema Khan on one side and his wife Bushra Bibi, recently released from jail, on the other.
A senior leader, speaking anonymously, highlighted that the party is being pushed to its limits amid a nearly two-year crackdown.
Imran Khan has “limited choices” when it comes to revamping the hierarchy, with key figures like Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Yasmin Rashid in jail and others like Murad Saeed and Hammad Azhar forced into hiding.
The Bushra-Aleema rift has taken center stage as workers grow increasingly disillusioned with the incumbent leadership.
Several PTI leaders at regional, provincial, and national levels expressed that Mr. Khan’s directives were not being implemented, resulting in a loss of political ground to the ruling parties.
This was evident in the recent controversy over the 26th amendment, where the ruling coalition sought the party’s support through Maulana Fazlur Rehman. The PTI’s negotiating stance was muddled by mixed signals.
Figures like Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Asad Qaiser appeared to favor continued engagement with the government, while other elements within the party, particularly those based abroad, criticized the local leadership for their perceived ‘surrender’.
“We should not have even given names for the parliamentary committee to select the next chief justice of Pakistan, as the ‘fake government’ merely wanted PTI’s endorsement,” said PTI Punjab Information Secretary Shaukat Basra.
However, observers believe that by boycotting this committee and not fully participating in the voting process in the two houses of parliament, the party failed to present an effective opposition and did not bring their protest on the parliamentary record.
Despite this, the nomination of Shibli Faraz and Omar Ayub to the reconstituted Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) suggests that the leadership had second thoughts on the matter.
Link broken
“Mr. Khan wants the party to be mobilized and the public to remain engaged, but the leaders themselves have become complacent, enjoying their positions as party leaders or elected representatives,” PTI Central Punjab Additional General Secretary Sardar Azeemullah Khan told Dawn.
“The link between Mr. Khan and the public has been broken,” he said, adding that those leading the protests on the ground wanted a say in the decision-making process, as the ‘clicktivism’ practiced by incumbent leaders was insufficient.
Another PTI loyalist questioned the absence of party leaders from the ground during the D-Chowk protest in Islamabad in the first week of October.
“There was no one to lead,” a central Punjab party leader said, noting that the party’s bigwigs had distanced themselves from the struggle, leaving Imran Khan and others in a lurch.
These sentiments have riled up many young party workers who believe that protests are the only option to secure their leader’s freedom.
Senior lawyer Salman Akram Raja, who recently replaced Omar Ayub as the party’s secretary general, has also expressed his frustration with party leaders’ decision to stay away from protests.
“Why would people come out on the streets and face fascism if their leaders are staying away,” he was quoted as saying by party insiders. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur had also labeled such leaders as ‘traitors’ to the PTI’s cause.
“The men in power are so shameless that they don’t even attend Imran Khan’s court cases,” another leader observed, suggesting that a “change of hierarchy in the party is on the cards” given recent developments.
When Dawn asked Mr. Basra about the resentment within party ranks, he blamed the chaos on changing political dynamics, asserting that the party was doing its best to resist the “fake government and powers that be” through its street power.
He claimed Mr. Khan had personally asked party leaders such as Murad Saeed, Mian Aslam Iqbal, and Hammad Azhar to stay off the grid to avoid arrest, adding that when Mr. Azhar was asked to come out, he participated in various protests and conventions.
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Bushra-Aleema Rift
Mr. Basra believes that with Bushra Bibi out of jail, workers are mustering up energy to launch another wave of protests. He claimed that the party’s “next protest call in November will be so powerful that the whole of Pakistan will be out in the streets”.
While Bushra Bibi can provide an impetus for such protests, the reported rift between Aleema and the former first lady could hinder the party’s chances of developing a coherent strategy.
Aleema Khan’s active involvement in party affairs and her criticism of senior party leaders have rubbed many the wrong way.
Aleema Khan, who met Mr. Khan on Wednesday for the third time in as many days, ruffled some feathers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after chiding Azam Swati over the Tarnol protest, which was canceled at the last minute. In recent audio leaks, she was purportedly heard saying that Bushra Bibi wanted to take over the party.
Some within the party fear that Aleema is aiming for “absolute control” and wants to keep Bushra Bibi at bay, a perception fueled by some of her recent statements.
Despite the wrangling and setbacks, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja remains hopeful about the possibility of Imran Khan’s release from prison.
Mr. Khan will be “among the people” in November or December, he claimed, but he is also banking on a massive public turnout, saying: “A few thousand people’s protest will not suffice… [we will need] close to half a million people”.
