Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
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The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Urdu: پاکستان تحريک انصاف) (Pakistan Movement for Justice) is a political party in Pakistan. In the Pakistani general election, 2002, the party won 0.8% of the popular vote and 1 out of 272 elected members[1]. PTI is headed by former Pakistani cricket captain Imran Khan. "Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem" is the slogan of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Imran Khan, the chairman of the party is also the Chancellor of the University of Bradford, England. He has a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics and is a Master of Arts of the University of Oxford.[2] He has recently put forward a solution for Pakistan's issues related to its system. His solution has three points:
- Independent Election Commission
- Independent Judiciary
- Independent Accountability Bureau
The party says it is working for the implementation of this solution.
Leadership
Chairman: Imran Khan
Senior Vice President: Hamid Khan (lawyer)
Secretary General: Dr. Arif Alvi
Deputy Information Secretary: Iftikhar Ahmad Chaudhry
Information Secretary: Omar Sarfaraz Cheema
Spokesman on Foreign Affairs: Shireen M. Mazari [3]
Agenda
Ideology Imran Khan has called for social and economic development of Pakistani people through justice at all levels of the society through moderation while keeping in mind Islamic principles. PTI aims at improving the situation of the Pakistani people through education and enlightenment.
PTI opposes the war being waged within Pakistan by the Pakistani Army, but also opposes the training of bombers to engage in revenge attacks. The party's popularity has seen a meteoric rise among the masses, especially among young people aged 18 to 30 who are inspired by Imran's charismatic leadership. The party believes that Pakistan should be self-reliant & should establish relations with the West as equals and not subordinates.
2008 General Elections
It was the first time in the history of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, since it was established, that it did not contested in the elections, which were held on 18 February 2008. The reason given was that Chief Justice of Pakistan Ifthikar Muhammad Chaudhary was put in house aresst by Gen.(r) Musharraf and not allowed to work. Hence all the nominess of PTI burnt there nomination papers with chairman teraing off his papers infront of the whole media. Following is what was said by the chairman of the party Imran Khan in a press conference:
"I am tearing my nomination papers publicly because I feel that to even file my papers will be a betrayal of our judiciary. For the first time in 60 years history our supreme court has stood for an independent judiciary and rule of law and shunned the doctrine of necessity. Any politician, who participates in these fraudulent elections held under an unconstitutional and illegal PCO, will be strengthening a dictator and upholding the doctrine of necessity that has been the greatest impediment in our country achieving its huge potential. We will not only betray the honorable judges who have made personal sacrifices to uphold the constitution, but also our future generations.
This would have been the first election that PTI would have fought while being properly prepared. But we have decided to boycott it and urge other parties not to participate and give legitimacy to an unconstitutional act. As per the decision of the APDM we hope that all the parties will boycott the elections if the Pre-Nov 3 conditions are not restored. I also urge all political parties to join hands in the foiling Gen. Musharraf's last attempt to cling power."
Membership Drive
The membership campaign was started by Imran Khan for PTI to make it more famous and make the people of Pakistan know its agenda more deeply. The 'membership drive' is still going on and has been successful till date. Also it was given an indication that the campaign will be spread country-wide and will surely cover the populated areas of the country. The membership campaign arranged by the party is a very unique one, with number 'floats' roaming the specified cities with huge banners on them of the party and Imran Khan. Also a documentary named 'Nijat-e-Dahinda' is shown on screen, in which the vision of the chairman of the party and the manifesto is told. In the end of the documentary, Imran Khan appears and gives a message to the people to join the party and strengthen its hands.
Lahore
PTI started its membership drive with the slogan of 'change' from Lahore on 15 Nov 2008 and ended it on 1 Dec 2008 with the Chairman of the party Imran Khan giving a speech at Nasir Bagh, where more than 4000 people gathered.
The membership was very successful and near 1,50000 (1Lac 50 Thousand) people with more than 500 lawyers joined the party.[4] This was a great shock to all the mainstream parties of Pakistan (PML-N, PML-Q, PPP) as Tehreek-e-Insaf was always considered as very little party with no supporters at all. This was also an indication that people in Lahore started to think PTI as a substitute for the always leading political party, PML-N. The membership made PML-Q start its membership drive on the pattern of PTI, but it didn't get success at all. Also other parties like Muslim League-N and Pakistan Peoples Party have jumped into ground and started to popularize their parties.
Rawalpindi/Islamabad
The membership dive was further extended and taken to Rawalpindi/Islamabad, which started on 15 Dec 2008 and will continue till 25 Dec 2008. A very warm welcome has been given by the people of these joint cities to the membership campaign of Tehreek-e-Insaf. Even though the weather has never been favorable to the membership drive from the day it started, still people of these cities came out and joined PTI. Most of the people joining are lawyers, students, and people from lower-middle class. Also a great number of women were seen at the camps and floats to join the party same as Lahore.
Peshawar
The next city chosen was Peshawar. This city is the capital of NWFP. It is to be noted that survey by IRI, 1year back, showed PTI as the second most popular party in the province. The membership campaign was to be started on the same day as on Rawalpindi, but due to some problems it was delayed till 20 Dec 2008. This didn't give any setback to the campaign and the people of the city responded the same as the other cities and around 2,000 members were made from a single camp on the first day, which was a great success. Same as the other citites, mostly educated persons were seen to be joining PTI.[5] Here the number of women appearing on the camps was less than the other cities camps due to some cultural prohibitions but many old people, ranging from 75-85 years, were seen to be joining PTI. After 8 days of campaiging, around 60,000 people joined PTI.[6]
References
External links
- Official site
- Javaid Chaudhary with Imran Khan and Sheikh Rasheed on a TV Show(December 21, 2008)
- PTI to emerge a major political force: Imran Khan
- Politicians shifting wealth to Dubai, says Imran Khan
- Dr. Hafeez welcomed back in the party
- PTI is the right party to tackle crises: Imran Khan
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- ↑ See Pakistani general election, 2002
- ↑ 'The Interview: Anything he Khan't do?', The Oxford Student, 5th Week, Trinity Term 1999
- ↑ http://www.insaf.pk/ContactUs/Leadership/tabid/143/Default.aspx
- ↑ http://www.insaf.pk/News/tabid/60/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1438/Default.aspx
- ↑ http://insaf.pk/News/tabid/60/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1602/Default.aspx
- ↑ http://insaf.pk/News/tabid/60/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1644/PTI-enrols-57625-members-in-8-days-in-NWFP.aspx PTI enrols 57,625 members in 8 days in N.W.F.P