KARAK - Activists of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf rejected award of ticket to former lawmaker Malik Qasim Khan and protested against the decision of the parliamentary board of the party.

The dejected workers announced bringing a consensus candidate belonging to the ideological segment of PTI against the party candidate Malik Qasim. This was decided in a meeting held at Takht-e-Nusrati, which was attended by candidates for PK-86 including Mansoor Khattak, Haroon Jan, Rasheed and other senior workers in large number.

The meeting expressed anguish over award of party ticket to former advisor to chief minister on prisons Malik Qasim for PK-86 and expressed wonder that the party leadership was unaware of his character.

The speakers demanded that members of the parliamentary board should review their decision and award the ticket to an ideological worker of the party. They claimed that Malik Qasim was unacceptable to the workers and alleged that he had destroyed the party during his tenure.

They took unanimous decision that if the party did not review its decision, the ideological workers would field a worker on consensus to contest election on PK-86 and resolved to defeat Malik Qasim. They said that if the party did not pay any heed to their demands, they would move to Banigala to protest award of ticket to Malik Qasim. Later, they staged a protest demonstration along Indus Highway near Hamidan Chowk and shouted, ‘Go Malik Qasim Go’.

Meanwhile, former lawmaker of PTI Gul Sahib Khan strongly condemned decision of the parliamentary board of the party by not awarding ticket to him and claimed that he was punished for showing loyalty with the party.

He regretted that tickets were given to those who sold jobs. He was addressing a corner meeting of his supporters at his residence and claimed that his sacrifices were countless for the cause of the party but the party did not pay back. He announced that he would contest for a National Assembly seat as an independent candidate and would support a candidate in PK-85 who would defeat the candidate of PTI.

Meanwhile, former ticket holder of PTI on PK-86 Haji Saleem also expressed annoyance over denial of ticket to him and resoled to contest elections at any cost against the candidate of PTI.

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