ISLAMABAD: One of the founding members of the PTI, Akbar S. Babar has rejected Imran Khan’s nomination of Barrister Gohar Ali Khan as a candidate for the party chairman’s slot, calling it “selection instead of an election”.

       In a press statement, Mr Babar, who had filed the foreign funding case against the PTI, said the nomination of the new PTI chairman has raised serious questions about the transparency and credibility of the entire PTI intra-party election process.

       He said that for a party that champions the transparency and level playing field in the national elections is shying away from allowing its workers a level playing field to elect its leadership without interference and manipulation.

       Mr Babar said that it appeared that the PTI has learnt few lessons from its past history of holding rigged intra-party elections. He said the intra-party election process has dragged since the Covid-19 days when the ECP granted one year on the PTI request to hold transparent intra-party elections under its constitution. This never happened as the PTI leadership was busy in destructive power politics and precious time was wasted.

       Mr Babar proposed that the Election Commission of Pakistan should appoint ‘observers’ to monitor the PTI intra-party elections as it is already seized with the matter.

       Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2023