• Despite Imran’s instructions not to air dirty laundry in public, Salman Akram Raja and Aliya Hamza engage in ‘Twitter war’ over decision to remove party’s central Punjab president and secretary
• Dispute between senior lawyers over list of who gets to meet Imran in Adiala leaves many within the party red-faced
LAHORE: Mere weeks after incarcerated founder Imran Khan warned party leaders against airing their dirty laundry in public, another tiff — this time over the leadership of PTI in central Punjab — has erupted over the social media platform X, in full public view.
In a telling series of tweets on Thursday, Secretary General Salman Akram Raja railed against those who were “conspiring against him”, and recalled that Mr Khan had personally tasked him with conveying messages from Adiala jail.
Although he didn’t explain the issue at hand, a cursory glance at his earlier tweets and messages posted by other PTI leaders laid bare the dispute.
The controversy centres around the ouster of PTI Central Punjab President Ahmad Chattha and General Secretary Bilal Ejaz, who were removed on instructions supposedly conveyed by Imran Khan on Oct 16, when he met Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Salman Akram Raja in Adiala jail.
Mr Chattha was one of the men shot and injured in Wazirabad when Imran Khan’s container was fired upon[1] during a rally in 2022.
A notification, issued on the same day by PTI’s Punjab Chief Organiser Aliya Hamza, had announced Mr Chattha’s removal. He was to be replaced by Ali Imtiaz Warraich.
Following the Oct 16 meeting, however, Mr Raja had tweeted that the party founder had not ordered any change in the Punjab hierarchy in his presence, adding that they would seek confirmation of this decision from Mr Khan at their next meeting.
In a tweet on Wednesday, however, he clarified that he was told the ‘decision’ to remove both men was conveyed — ostensibly to Barrister Gohar — before he arrived at the prison.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, Mr Raja disclosed that two lawyers, Ali Imran and Mubashir Maqsood Awan, had met Imran Khan in jail, and later claimed that he had instructed the appointment of Mr Warraich as central Punjab president.
In a tweet, Mr Raja also claimed that he told the new president, Ali Imtiaz, to start working after being informed that the confusion stemming from the matter had brought the party’s affairs to a standstill in Punjab.
But the decision to remove the two men was disputed by Imran’s sister Uzma during an interaction with reporters, as well as a tweet from Mr Khan’s official X account — which he doesn’t have access to while in prison.
“I wish to make it clear that Ahmad Chattha and Bilal Ejaz are my long-standing and loyal companions. They have stood by me with unwavering loyalty and made tremendous sacrifices. I have not issued any orders for their removal,” said the tweet, published on Wednesday.
Diving headfirst into the fray, PTI Punjab Chief Organiser Aliya Hamza tweeted that Imran Khan was the final authority on all decisions, and that she was simply implementing the instructions that had been passed to her.
Ms Hamza had earlier appointed Ali Imran as the party’s Punjab spokesman.
When approached, party insiders alleged that Ali Imran was a controversial person, being one of the men who ‘misguided’ Salman Akram Raja over Ahmad Chattha’s removal.
Some went as far as to accuse Ms Hamza of ‘playing for the other team’, claiming that she was preoccupied by optics; holding meetings, visiting workers’ homes, holding cake-cutting ceremonies and protests on court premises, while silencing voices being raised from the party’s Punjab media cell.
When approached for comment, Aliya Hamza denied any leadership crisis, saying that the PTI Punjab president’s portfolio was still with Dr Yasmin Rashid, adding that Mr Khan had instructed her to serve as acting president after Hammad Azhar stepped down from the role.
List dispute
Another dispute that Mr Raja alluded to in his tweets on Thursday was the confusion about who would submit lists for access to Adiala jail.
It may be recalled that the Supreme Court had recently specified that the party’s secretary general, i.e. Salman Akram Raja, should be the one to submit such lists.
However, a tug-of-war over who has the authority to issue these lists erupted after two separate lists were sent to the Adiala Jail superintendent on Oct 29, one by secretary-general Salman Akram Raja and the other by Barrister Ali Zafar.
In another thread of tweets on Thursday, Mr Raja explained that he had personally messaged Barrister Zafar, informing him that he would send the list. He then claimed to have forwarded the list to the superintendent through TCS, WhatsApp and in person through a lawyer.
However, he wrote, “Senator Zafar still sent a separate list of meeting participants”.
Party leaders Dawn spoke to on Thursday seemed embarrassed, saying that such a controversy erupting between such senior party members was tantamount to ‘party ka mazaaq’ (making a mockery of the party).
Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2025
References
- ^ fired upon (www.dawn.com)