Lahore:
Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) expelled the chief minister of the Gilgit-Baltistan Gulbar Khan with 11 legislators, accusing them of forming an advanced block and of voting against party policy in the regional assembly.
The termination opinions, dated September 5, said the evictions in force immediately. The letters cited “clear violations of parties’ policy” which had affected the interests and reputation of PTI.
The stripped people are the chief minister Gulbar Khan, Abdul Hameed, Haji Shah Baig, Mushtaq Ahmad, Syed Amjad Ali Zaidi, Shamsul Haq Lone, Dilshad Bano, Raja Nasir Ali Khan Maqpoon, Surayya Zaman, Raja Azam Khan Amacha and Rauja Fazal.
The party also prohibited them from using the name, flag or PTI platform in any capacity, warning of legal action in the event of violations.
In a parallel decision, PTI published an opinion of justification for the former governor of Gilgit-Baltistan, Raja Jalal Hussain Maqpoon, alleging that he had conspired against the party and encouraged the defections. He was asked to answer in writing within two days.
The expulsions mark the last chapter of the expansion of PTI’s internal flaw in the mountainous region. Gulbar Khan, previously Minister of Health of PTI, became chief minister in July 2023 after Khalid Khurshid Khan was disqualified by the GB court in chief to have pretended a false law degree.
Khurshid’s disqualification opened the valves while several PTI legislators broke the ranks, paving the way for a coalition government sewn by the defectors of the PTI, alongside the PML-N and the PPP. Gulbar has become the consensual choice for the chief minister.
Even before his elections, reports suggest that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, after shaking with PPP leaders, had quietly put Gulbar’s name for the prized slit.
However, the PTI cried a fault. His central media department denounced development as nothing less than the “flight of public mandate in Gilgit-Baltistan in broad daylight”.
The next day, the party served proof of proof to 11 members who had thrown their share with Gulbar. Among them, Gulbar Khan himself, Amjad Zaidi, Shams Lone, Abdul Hameed, Dilshad Bano, Haji Shah Baig, Surayya Zaman and Raja Fazal Rahim, who all received letters of termination Thursday, marking a decisive break with the party.
