- Gandapur complains regarding lack of party's Punjab’s leadership.
- Hammad asked Gandapur to avoid blame and taunts in PTI meeting.
- PTI chief Gohar declined to comment on spat between party leaders.
ISLAMABAD: After the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) October 15 D-Chowk protest was postponed, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and senior leader Hammad Azhar engaged in a heated exchange of words during the party's "divided" political committee meeting, sources told The News.
The KP chief minister, according to the sources, endorsed postponing the protest, while Azhar — citing the alleged mistreatment of the party, its leadership and workers — insisted that it should be held, as the country welcomes foreign dignitaries for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) conference.
Gandapur, in response to Hammad, taunted him about hiding himself and asking workers to step out for the demonstration.
"You are hiding yourself and telling the workers to come out, while I have come to Islamabad twice," said the KP CM.
He further complained regarding the lack of the party's Punjab’s leadership, highlighting that those from KP were instead arrested. Gandapur insisted that the party's KP workers needed to be rescued.
He said that the province’s machinery and resources were with the federal government, along with employees stationed in Islamabad.
Azhar, on the other hand, asked Gandapur to avoid blame and taunts, saying that he would personally lead from Punjab. He told the KP chief minister to maintain a political, moral, and civilised tone, stating that differences of opinion should not be expressed using derogatory language.
The party leader also retorted that Gandapur had recently abandoned the workers at D-Chowk and fled the scene.
Before the situation escalated further, senior party leaders present at the meeting tactfully defused the tension and calmed both sides.
Regarding the heated exchange between Gandapur and Hammad, party chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan chose not to comment.
Since the announcement of the October 15 protest coinciding with the opening of the two-day SCO summit in Islamabad, reports of divisions within the party over the protest have been circulating.
