LONDON – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf UK leaders have expressed anger at the treatment they are getting in Pakistan at the hands of the PTI government at the federal and provincial levels.
Complaints were made at an event organised here in Southall where Senator Faisal Javed was the chief guest and the main speaker.
PTI UK’s senior leader Roomi Malik said that “rich and corrupt people have taken over key positions in Pakistan by the PTI leaders and old and sincere workers had lost all respect and their only relevance was to raise funds and give contributions to the party.”
Roomi Malik told Senator Faisal Javed that several key positions reserved for overseas Pakistanis had been given to those who had access to the influential circles and veteran PTI workers were ignored, not consulted and ridiculed. He informed the visiting Senator that several senior PTI leaders from the UK had not received any respect and recognition because the party had been “taken over by the parachuters.”
Another PTI UK leader from the UK, who is originally from KP, said in his remarks that he had campaigned for several weeks during the last general elections in KP because he believed in the cause of Naya Pakistan but he said that tickets have been given to the most corrupt elements locally.
Senator Faisal Javed told them that he will take up their concerns with the party leadership but will not make a public statement about it.
He told the Senator that PTI has lost its way and today the party has gone under the occupation of a corrupt mafia who give party tickets and positions to their loved ones or those who have deep pockets. He questioned where was Naya Pakistan.
A few days ago at the Nawab Restaurant, PTI UK leader Rana Abdul Sattar had expressed similar remarks when he told nearly 300 people that PTI UK leaders and workers have no respect in Pakistan and nobody cares for them. Rana Abdul Sattar had said that only those with money and access have access to power and position while the diehard workers have nobody to look out for them. He had said that PTI was reduced only to big slogans and no practical progress on its avowed agenda.
At the same meeting, senior PTI leader Sahibzada Jahangir had said that PTI UK leader Barrister Waheed-ur-Rehman and Aslam Bhutta, who are currently elected leaders of PTU, had received their positions after buying votes in the last general elections. Mr Jahangir had said that PTI leaders standing in elections are forced to buy votes and he had asked Imran Khan to reduce the monthly membership fees to £10 a month.
Sahibzada Jahangir later said in a statement that his words were taken out of context.