Salahuddin Haider
From day one of becoming prime minister, Tehreek insaaf chief Imran Khan has been persistently under fire from the opposition, but nothing abnormal in that. Opposition world over, even in established democracies, survives on attacking the party in power. It has to do that, else its own existence will be threatened. Relying on age-old maxim that fighting a known army is not a problem, but suffering attacks from unknown army is the most dangerous dimension in any confrontation, fits here firmly. Imran, despite razor thin majority of mere 3 members after Akhtar Mengal’s decision to quit the coalition, was still a force to reckon with. But now he must be a worried man because of internal strife in the party.
Minister for science and technology Fawad Chaudhry spilled the beans with an interview to voice of America in which he openly accused Jehangir Tareen and Asad Umar of old rivalries. This was just the beginning of a story which finally struck like lightening during a cabinet meeting Tuesday June 23 when Faisal Wavda pointed accusing finger at Asad Umar and Shah Mehmood Qureshi of aspiring for Prime Ministership. Wavda confirmed the inside proceedings to a couple of Islamabad reporters.
Obviously, Imran was infuriated but controlled himself lest the problem takes a different twist. However, according to some unconfirmed reports he took Wavda to another room, obviously to make him understand that such an approach or attitude was least beneficial for the party, and will relay a damaging message to those ready to lambast them.
Probably this party of the story lacked content, because the Prime Minister invited Faisal Wavda to his office to seek explanation the next day, and separately invited Asad Umar and Shah Mehmood Qureshi to sort things out The very fact that such meetings had to take place, showed the gravity of the situation. Whether things were sorted out, was not known, but it is obvious that neither of the cabinet members would invoke the premier’s displeasure.
What in real sense of the word was worrying was the hard line attitude of Fawad Chaudhri, who refused to budge, remaining firm on the contents of his interview to foreign media. Ali Zaidi tried to pacify the situation by explaining in a TV interview that PTi was a democratic party, and differences of opinion do occur in party meetings. However he agreed that proper forum for letting vent to complaints was the party’s core committee. It was a bit satisfying to note that a PML member of the Punjab Assembly Javed Malik remained disciplined and polite in exploiting the situation/
However, the train did not stop there. In the ongoing budget session of the National Assembly, three PTI members openly criticized Central and Punjab governments for failing to something concrete for southern Punjab and in the northern areas of the country.
This meant that the prime minister will now have to appoint a chief whip to avoid such. embarassments in future. Party members should bind themselves to party discipline and avoid talking about weaknesses of government or part policies in the open. That is just not on.