ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership is distraught over its allegedly “managed” but unexpected defeat in the Haripur by-election, a constituency where the party has its own government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
According to party sources, the result has triggered serious reflections within the top leadership, and there is an ongoing debate about whether the long-standing politics of confrontation has narrowed the political arena for the party, with support even in its stronghold of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa seeming to be dwindling.
According to reports, the leadership is now leaning towards the politics of dialogue. Senior leaders are examining the reasons for the defeat in Haripur and believe that the political arena is shrinking, even though the PTI government is in power in the province.
The seat fell vacant after the disqualification of former opposition leader Omar Ayub Khan, whose wife was a candidate. The defeat is being interpreted as a warning within the party that the current style of politics may no longer be effective.
According to sources, immediately after the by-election, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan met Omar Ayub Khan at his residence where the two leaders discussed the situation in detail. According to Barrister Gohar, they reviewed the pros and cons of the political strategy of the last few years.
Party insiders say that Barrister Gohar’s recent statements, in which he pointed to the need for new politics, are the result of this review and reflect the current thinking of the top leadership.
According to further sources, the feeling of “lack of full acceptance of the PTI mandate by the powerful circles” is also pushing the leadership away from confrontation and towards dialogue.
Barrister Gohar has long been considered the party’s moderate voice and has been emphasizing dialogue and political process rather than confrontation. Some other leaders, including Shah Mehmood Qureshi, had also suggested dialogue in the past, but the hard-line faction within the party did not allow it to proceed.
Sources say that after the Haripur defeat, moderate thinking has strengthened in the PTI, and most leaders believe that negotiations are the only way forward. However, the final decision will be taken by the party’s founding chairman, Imran Khan, who has so far mostly listened to the opinions of supporters of confrontation.
