'Missing' Junaid Akbar remains PTI's KP president; Senator Noorul Haq Qadri to assume duties in his absence

PTI on Saturday clarified that MNA Junaid Akbar remains the party’s provincial president, but Senator Noorul Haq Qadri will preside over the party meetings in the former’s absence.

The whereabouts of Akbar remain unknown after he, along with Sohail Afridi and others, was taken into preventative custody following the Centre’s imposition of governor’s rule and emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Oct 11.

Amid the absence, there were reports that more than 50 lawmakers from the KP Assembly had met on Oct 14 to endorse former chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur’s nomination as acting provincial president in place of Akbar.

Subsequently, on Saturday, a notification signed by PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan declared that the party’s provincial organisation “shall continue to function under the presidency” of Akbar.

Senator Qadri, the incumbent senior vice president (SVP) of PTI’s KP chapter, “shall preside over all meetings of PTI provincial cabinet in absence of Junaid Akbar and shall act according to the Constitution of PTI”.

Qadri has served as the federal religious affairs minister during the PTI government.

Meanwhile, PTI KP Secretary General Ali Asghar Khan would “chair all meetings in the absence of SVP (Qadri) and is empowered to call and chair all meetings of other tiers of the provincial organisation”.

Asghar would also be “responsible for overall administration, coordination, supervision with all tiers and wings in order to implement party policies, strategies or decisions”.

The PTI notification further directed: “Subject to the foregoing, it is however made clear that no changes shall be made in the provincial cabinet or organisational structure of PTI KPK till further order.”

The notification also follows a public spat on social media between Gandapur and PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja over the matter.

In a post on X, Raja had taken a dig at “the conspiratorial narrative” regarding a possible announcement by a group of party MPAs to nominate a new provincial president without permission from their jailed leader Imran Khan, or the party’s political committee.

On his part, Gandapur, in a lengthy post on X, criticised the secretary general for “levelling vague accusations” against his party colleagues and raised several questions regarding his statements.

Gandapur objects to Raja’s ‘snakes’ remarks

In his post on Wednesday, Raja had cited a “narrative” that 68 PTI dissidents were planning to name a new provincial president for the party.

He also accused them of cutting off contact with Afridi — whose role as the chief minister is now non-functional — and his team in the final days of the protest march, paving the way for emergency and governor’s rule in KP.

“Those spreading doubts — the snakes and the serpents — will be defeated,” Raja wrote.

Subsequently, Gandapur took to X to hit back at the secretary general’s claims and, in a series of tweets and audio messages, took strong exception to Raja’s tone and tenor.

Demanding that he bring to an end “the spectacle” that had been made of the party, the former KP CM said that the secretary general had no right to accuse others of conspiracy, or call them names like “snakes and serpents”.

“Do you understand this? We know how to make others understand if they don’t get this,” he said in an angry tone.

Gandapur also accused Raja of “hiding” during the party’s protest movement and wondered why Raja and Gohar did not attend parliamentary party meetings.

“If the parliamentary party of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa wants to seek a constitutional and political solution to the current crisis through consultation within itself, who has given a few individuals the authority to label these elected representatives as traitors, conspirators, or undemocratic?” he wrote.