A serious rift has surfaced in the ranks of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Gilgit-Baltistan over the awarding of party tickets for the upcoming elections of Gilgit-Baltistan Council to outsiders by party high command in Islamabad.
The nomination of two candidates, who are not affiliated with the party, for the council seat has angered party loyalists and aspirants of party ticket. Nomination of Muhammad Iqbal from District Ganche of Baltistan Division and Dilshad Bano from Hunza District of Gilgit Division, as party candidates by the party leaders in Islamabad has been rejected by the local party leaders/workers, saying that it was an attempt to discourage the party loyalists.
According to sources, the two members were affiliated with Pakistan Muslim League-Q and their nomination has dejected PPP workers. Not only the local party leaders, but also the Chief Minister Gilgit-Baltistan was not taken on board while awarding party ticket to them, they claimed.
The party has recently nominated six members for the council elections, which will be upper house. The members of the council would be elected by the members of Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly. Each candidate would be required at least five votes in the 33- member assembly under Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self Governance Order, 2009.
The party workers across the region, sources said, have started expressing their resentment through protests and sending messages to Islamabad through email, fax and telephonic calls. The sources claimed that the party high ups had received hefty amount as bribe from these candidates for the ticket. They said that Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah was called to Islamabad, where he reportedly met the high ups of the party on Tuesday.
Talking to Business Recorder via phone from Gilgit, Muhammad Ibraheem, an aspirant of party ticket, who is a local PPP leader from district Ganche, said that he was a PPP worker for the last 35 years, adding that the party high ups' decision surprised him, as those people who have no links with the party have been given tickets.
Terming the decision an injustice, he said that the party gave the ticket to a man who has only 35 days of contribution in the party against his loyalty of 35 years. "Though I will not leave the party even after the decision, it would deject not only me but also the thousands of workers here in the region," he added.
Ibrahim further said that it was beyond apprehensions that the PMLQ workers, who worked against the party in the past, were nominated without consulting even the CM Gilgit-Baltistan, who is also party president. PPP members of the legislative assembly including Mumahhad Ismail, Muhammad Jaffar, Shaekh Nisar Hussain Serbaz and Rana Nazeem Secretary Information PPP Gilgit-Baltistan have also expressed their strong reservations over the decision.
Interestingly, the PPP high command gave party ticket to three people out of the total six candidates, who have been in the rival party in the past. However, the nomination of Professor Ghulam Hussain Saleem, as a party candidate from Skardu, was not objected despite that in the past he has been in PMLQ, because he joined PPP months before the general elections. The other PPP candidates are; azir Ibadat from district Ghizar, Advocate Nazam from Diamar and Advocate Amjad from Gilgit.
It is to be mentioned here that Secretary Law Hafeezur Rehman has already appointed Returning Officer while senior officers of Federal Election Commission have been nominated to hold the elections through single transferable vote next week. The ruling party is yet not nominated a local Governor, besides completing the formation of the cabinet even almost five months have passed after the elections.