The ideological members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) are upset at the party chairman Imran Khan's decision to form an electoral alliance with Maulana Samiul Haq of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami (JUI-S) ahead of the 2018 general elections. A spokesman of JUI-S confirmed that his party had formed an alliance with the PTI for 2018 elections and claimed that the two parties have similar views on many national and international issues.
Former Justice Wajihuddin Siddiqui, who quit the PTI over ideological differences with party chief, said that soon after joining PTI he realized that there exists no ideology in the party. "The PTI has no ideology and the only difference between PTI and other political parties is that Imran Khan has no lust for money and the recent alliance with JUI-S shows PTI is in election mode and accepting parties so that it can comfortably win the next elections," he added.
Another founding member who is still associated with PTI, Colonel Younus Ali Raza (retd), said that the ideology of the party was compromised the day politicians with dubious past track record began to join the bandwagon of Imran Khan. However, he maintained that people like Samiul Haq would not be able to influence Khan, adding Samiul Haq has no vote bank and the only thing which he can do is control a handful of terrorists.
"How many votes will JUI-S get? Hardly a few thousand and the only thing which he did was control a handful of terrorists after Pervez Khattak released funds for his seminary," he added. He said that the PTI founding members do not get the respect which they deserve, but despite all this he is committed to the party and strongly believes in Khan's leadership as he is the only politician who can steer the country out of the prevailing crisis.
Another leading founding member of PTI, Hamid Khan Advocate said that he is not concerned with who joins and who quits PTI. "I have nothing to do with people like Samiul Haq", he said. He expressed pride in his association with PTI, but declined to comment whether the ideology at the time the party was founded still exists or not. "I am associated with PTI, and I have nothing to do with who join or quits the party," he maintained.
A senior PTI leader who wished not to be named said that there is no harm in making alliance with hardliners like Samiul Haq; and maintained that political parties should make efforts to integrate militant-linked groups into the mainstream of the country's politics for long-lasting peace in the region.