After months of delay in salaries, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has informed its staff that they will face a 50% cut in salaries due to an alleged financial crisis.
Employees who faced raids and spent months in jail said they should be paid 100% of their salaries as they also have to run their own homes.
They alleged that PTI MPs increased their salaries but were not showing interest in paying their employees’ dues.
PTI Central Secretary for Information Sheikh Waqas Akram said that he cares a lot about the party employees and has written a note opposing the proposal to cut salaries by 50%.
An employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that PTI has 25 to 28 salaried employees who receive salaries ranging from Rs35,000 to Rs200,000. He said that they were recruited for the accounts, offices and media wing of the former ruling party.
He said, “The total expenses of the secretariat in Islamabad and Lahore and the salaries of the salaried employees are about Rs4 million per month, however, after the raid on the PTI secretariat in July last year, several employees were arrested. It is unfortunate that when we were in jail, our salaries were stopped. Later, when we were released and started working, our salaries could not be released for several months.”
He said that last year, Rauf Hassan managed some money and paid some of the employees’ dues, but later the payment of salaries again became delayed.
He said that in October 2024, we were informed by the top officials that the party does not have funds to pay the bills of the chairman’s office in Bani Gala, so to avoid disconnection of utility services, the bills will be paid by deducting the salaries of the employees.
He said that about 5 months of salary is pending, we have been told that salaries will be reduced by 50% from November, he said that it is unfortunate that the MPs belonging to PTI have increased their salaries but they do not care about the staff and their families.
Another employee said that if the party did not have the courage to stand up against the powerful, it should not have adopted such an aggressive attitude, he said that now we are facing difficulties due to the aggressive policy of the party.
He said that it is also unfair to cut 50% of the salary of those who are getting Rs 200,000 and those who are getting only Rs 35,000. Last year, founding chairman Imran Khan had directed provincial and federal assembly members to give Rs 240,000 each, but that amount could not be received either.
It is worth mentioning that PTI is considered the richest party in terms of receiving donations because it receives donations from both within the country and abroad. However, former party leader Sher Afzal Marwat has repeatedly alleged that there has been corruption in the party funds received in the form of donations and that crores of rupees are being paid to favorite lawyers in the form of fees.
A senior party leader said on condition of anonymity that it is a fact that the party is facing a financial crisis.
He said that since May 9, 2023, at least 10 departments including the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) have been taking action against us, they have seized several bank accounts and blocked the sources of funds, they start investigations against those who donated to us, due to which other donors are also hesitant to donate money to avoid the crackdown.
The party’s Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram, while speaking to Dawn, said that he was aware of the financial crisis facing the PTI.
He said that founding chairman Imran Khan had directed all ticket holders of the provincial and national assemblies to deposit Rs 120,000, win or lose, at once (for one year) or in two installments i.e. after every 6 months.
He said that despite this, there were financial problems, but when a 50% reduction in salaries was proposed, he strongly opposed the summary.
He also agreed that it is unfair to deduct salary from the previous date, I hope that the situation will improve in the coming days and the employees will be paid, Sheikh Waqas assured that the party really cares about their families.
