PTI slashes staff salaries by 50 percent amid 'financial troubles'

A financial crunch has led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to inform its staff that they will have to face a 50 per cent cut in their salaries, after their pays were delayed for many months, a leading English newspaper reported on Friday.

Ex-PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry had made similar claims on X (formerly Twitter) two weeks ago, stating in a post, “The majority of members in PTI's political committee […] have embezzled millions in party funds. They refuse to be held accountable for funds collected in the name of Imran Khan [PTI founder] and party workers.”

He stressed, “Accountability for funding is crucial because PTI's media department has not received salaries for the past four months, and the cleaning staff has been laid off. Meanwhile, people like Raoof Hassan are getting a hike in salary.”

A staffer revealed to Dawn News that 25 to 28 paid staffers of PTI hired for accounts, offices, and the media wing of the former ruling party are getting salaries ranging from Rs35,000 to Rs200,000.

Revealing that the overall expenditure of secretariats in Islamabad and Lahore and salaries of paid staff is around Rs4 million per month, the staffer said, “After the raid in July last year at the PTI secretariat, a number of staffers were arrested […] Later, when we were released and started working, our salaries could not be released for many months.”

He said, “In October 2024, we were informed by the high-ups that the party does not have funds to pay bills of the chairman’s office in Banigala, so the amount of bills will be deducted from the salaries of staff to avoid disconnection of utility services.” 

“While the salary of almost five months is pending, we have been informed that the salaries will be slashed by 50 percent from November. It is unfortunate that parliamentarians, belonging to the PTI, have increased their salaries, but they are least bothered regarding staff and their families.”

Meanwhile, PTI Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akam said that he cared a lot about the party employees and penned a note opposing the proposal to cut their salaries by 50 per cent.

Akram claimed that despite the fact that Imran Khan had earlier directed all the ticket holders of provincial and national assemblies to deposit Rs240,000 at once [for a year] or in two instalments, there were financial issues.

Declaring the suggestion regarding the salary slash from the back date ‘unfair’, he said, “I hope that the situation will improve in the coming days and staffers will be paid. The party really cares about their families.”