ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Salman Akram Raja and party leader Junaid Akbar Khan traded barbs on Monday over the party’s failed call for a protest outside the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
The PTI had called on its parliamentarians to reach the IHC to stage a protest, but only Salman Akram Raja, Ali Muhammad Khan and Shafqat Ayaz reportedly reached the court premises.
Expressing frustration over the absence of other lawmakers, Salman Akram Raja said he had repeatedly appealed to party members to reach the high court. “I pleaded with them to come to the high court,” he said.
Raja said the party was scheduled to submit important points regarding the health of PTI founder Imran Khan.
“Where are all these people? Why did they not come? I will name everyone,” he said, adding that he also knew which members had failed to appear on August 5.
Meanwhile, PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa President Junaid Akbar criticised Raja’s approach, saying he needed to learn how to conduct politics. “Salman Akram Raja still does not know how politics works,” Junaid Akbar said.
He said Raja had sent messages to lawmakers at around midnight asking them to reach the high court the following morning.
He added that if Raja wanted parliamentarians to attend, they should have been informed in the morning.
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Junaid Akbar said lawmakers often remain in their constituencies and need time to travel to Islamabad.
“For God’s sake, learn how politics works. The parliamentarians are not at fault; the people issuing such calls are,” he said.
He criticised the manner in which the protest call was issued, saying lawmakers could not be expected to respond to an instruction sent at midnight.
Junaid Akbar maintained that the parliamentarians were not responsible for the failure of the protest call, adding that those running the party needed to understand how to organise political activities.