'Missing' Junaid Akbar remains PTI's KP president; Senator Noorul Haq Qadri to assume duties in his absence

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News Desk. (2026, October 24). 'Missing' Junaid Akbar remains PTI's KP president; Senator Noorul Haq Qadri to assume duties in his absence. Dawn. https://www.dawn.com/news/2039512/missing-junaid-akbar-remains-ptis-kp-president-senator-noorul-haq-qadri-to-assume-duties-in-his-absence

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Dawn · collected 2026-10-24 · by News Desk

Quick Summary

On October 14, PTI clarified that Junaid Akbar remains the party’s provincial president for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa despite being taken into preventative custody on October 11 along with Sohail Afridi and others following the imposition of governor’s rule in KP. Senator Noorul Haq Qadri will preside over PTI meetings in Akbar's absence, while PTI KP Secretary General Ali Asghar Khan will chair meetings if Qadri is unavailable. The notification also states that no changes to the provincial cabinet or organisational structure will be made until further notice.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-24, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

As of October 24, 2026, MNA Junaid Akbar remains the PTI's provincial president for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), despite his whereabouts being unknown since he was taken into preventive custody on October 11. Senator Noorul Haq Qadri will preside over PTI meetings in Akbar's absence. Initially, there were reports of more than 50 lawmakers from the KP Assembly endorsing former chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur as acting provincial president, but PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan declared that the party organization would continue under Akbar’s presidency according to the PTI Constitution.

Written for “Junaid Akbar Missing Controversy” on 2026-10-24, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 104364 · logged 2026-10-24

Story

📰 Junaid Akbar Missing Controversy
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 10% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Dawn
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 10% hedged 2 of 20 📰 publisher trust 71
“The articles describe different internal developments within PTI involving distinct individuals and issues.”
Dawn
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 12% hedged 2 of 16 📰 publisher trust 71
“Article A discusses PTI's demands for dialogue and release of political prisoners, while Article B clarifies that Junaid Akbar remains PTI's KP president but Noorul Haq Qadri will assume his duties in his absence due to preventative custody. These are different aspects of the same situation but not the same specific event.”
Dawn
⚖️ Leans right 🔴 8% hedged 1 of 12 📰 publisher trust 71
“The articles describe different events related to the political situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but not the same specific incident.”
Dawn
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 13% hedged 3 of 23 📰 publisher trust 71
“While both articles discuss the detention of PTI leaders following the imposition of governor's rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, they describe different aspects and outcomes related to this broader situation.”
Missing lawmakers different event · 85%
Dawn
⚖️ Leans strongly left 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 16 📰 publisher trust 71
“Article A discusses multiple lawmakers being untraceable after emergency rule, while Article B specifically addresses PTI's clarification about Junaid Akbar remaining party president and Noorul Haq Qadri taking over in his absence.”
Dawn
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 8% hedged 2 of 26 📰 publisher trust 71
“While both articles discuss internal conflicts within PTI following a protest and governance issues in KP, they describe distinct incidents: one focuses on the conflict between Raja and Gandapur, while the other clarifies Junaid Akbar's status as KP president despite his absence.”
Emergency matters different event · 82%
Dawn
⚖️ Leans right 🔴 25% hedged 10 of 40 📰 publisher trust 71
“The articles discuss different aspects of the political situation in KP, with Article A focusing on the declaration of emergency and new administrative setup, while Article B addresses internal PTI party matters regarding Junaid Akbar's absence.”
Burnt bridges different event · 20%
Dawn
⚖️ Leans strongly left 🔴 6% hedged 1 of 18 📰 publisher trust 71
“The articles discuss related political developments in KP but describe different events and timeframes.”
Dawn
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 28 📰 publisher trust 71
“The articles discuss different aspects of political developments in KP, but do not describe the same specific incident or occurrence.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
21
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
10%
2 of 21 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
71/100
Dawn's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-24 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Dawn · 2170 article(s) · 3 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 3 correction(s)

Who wrote this

News Desk
310 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 PTI on Saturday clarified that MNA Junaid Akbar remains the party’s provincial president, but Senator Noorul Haq Qadri will preside over the party meetings in the former’s absence.
🔮 The president is currently on a three-day visit to Germany, having departed on Thursday, as the two countries are set to mark the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic relations.
🔮 “The terrorist attack against Karak will be met with the harshest retaliation,” King Abdullah II said in a post on X. “We will strike with an iron fist against those who dare to threaten our nation.”
🔮 He expressed hope that the new proposed price would help farmers cover their production costs and earn profit.
🔮 The people of Balochistan have consistently rejected those who shed blood in their name, and they will see through this deception as well,” it said.
🔮 Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir has said the armed forces will continue the counterterrorism campaign against Indian sponsored terrorsts groups “to the fullest”, vowing to “hit them hard wherever they are,” the military’s media wing said on Friday.
🔮 Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) has said it will hold talks with the government on Friday regarding its demand to abolish the petroleum levy and on further high-level contacts between them.
🔮 “Strict legal action will be taken against those using social media platforms to rob citizens on the pretext of overseas jobs and visas,” NCCIA Director General Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi said in a statement issued by the agency’s spokesperson.
🔮 Following the revision, petrol will retail at Rs379.31 per litre while HSD will cost Rs390.11 per litre.
🔮 The Jamaat-i-Islami Pakistan (JI) announced on Wednesday that it will launch the third phase of its nationwide protest movement against the petroleum levy on Friday, with sit-ins planned in all districts across the country, according to a press release by the party.
Wire or desk byline, not an individual reporter.
Also by News Desk
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 310 articles by News Desk →

Topics

Centre Khyber Pakhtunkhwa PTI the Constitution of PTI the KP Assembly

Subjects

PTI ORG · 9× Raja PERSON · 7× Gandapur GPE · 5× Akbar PERSON · 3× Qadri PERSON · 3× Junaid Akbar PERSON · 2× Khyber Pakhtunkhwa GPE · 2× Centre ORG · 1× Noorul Haq Qadri PERSON · 1× Sohail Afridi PERSON · 1×

Narrative

Gandapur also accused Raja of “hiding” during the party’s protest movement and wondered why Raja and Gohar did not attend parliamentary party meetings. “If the parliamentary party of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa wants to seek a constitutional and political solution to the current crisis through consultation within itself, who has given a few individuals the authority to label these elected representatives as traitors, conspirators, or undemocratic?” he wrote.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-24
🔮 PTI on Saturday clarified that MNA Junaid Akbar remains the party’s provincial president, but Senator Noorul Haq Qadri will preside over the party meetings in the former’s absence.

Claims (21 extracted, 2 hedged)

PTI on Saturday clarified that MNA Junaid Akbar remains the party’s provincial president, but Senator Noorul Haq Qadri will preside over the party meetings in the former’s absence. asserted
Qadri → clarify → absence
The whereabouts of Akbar remain unknown after he, along with Sohail Afridi and others, was taken into preventative custody following the Centre’s imposition of governor’s rule and emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Oct 11. asserted
he → remain → Oct
Amid the absence, there were reports that more than 50 lawmakers from the KP Assembly had met on Oct 14 to endorse former chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur’s nomination as acting provincial president in place of Akbar. asserted
lawmakers → be → Akbar
Subsequently, on Saturday, a notification signed by PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan declared that the party’s provincial organisation “shall continue to function under the presidency” of Akbar. asserted
organisation → sign → Akbar
Senator Qadri, the incumbent senior vice president (SVP) of PTI’s KP chapter, “shall preside over all meetings of PTI provincial cabinet in absence of Junaid Akbar and shall act according to the Constitution of PTI”. uncertain
Qadri → preside → PTI
Qadri has served as the federal religious affairs minister during the PTI government. asserted
Qadri → serve → government
Meanwhile, PTI KP Secretary General Ali Asghar Khan would “chair all meetings in the absence of SVP (Qadri) and is empowered to call and chair all meetings of other tiers of the provincial organisation”. asserted
Khan → chair → organisation
Asghar would also be “responsible for overall administration, coordination, supervision with all tiers and wings in order to implement party policies, strategies or decisions”. asserted
Asghar → implement → policies
The PTI notification further directed: “Subject to the foregoing, it is however made clear that no changes shall be made in the provincial cabinet or organisational structure of PTI KPK till further order.” asserted
changes → direct → order
The notification also follows a public spat on social media between Gandapur and PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja over the matter. asserted
notification → follow → matter
In a post on X, Raja had taken a dig at “the conspiratorial narrative” regarding a possible announcement by a group of party MPAs to nominate a new provincial president without permission from their jailed leader Imran Khan, or the party’s political committee. asserted
Raja → take → leader
On his part, Gandapur, in a lengthy post on X, criticised the secretary general for “levelling vague accusations” against his party colleagues and raised several questions regarding his statements. asserted
Gandapur → criticise → statements
Gandapur objects to Raja’s ‘snakes’ remarks asserted
Gandapur → object → remarks
In his post on Wednesday, Raja had cited a “narrative” that 68 PTI dissidents were planning to name a new provincial president for the party. asserted
dissidents → cite → party
He also accused them of cutting off contact with Afridi — whose role as the chief minister is now non-functional — and his team in the final days of the protest march, paving the way for emergency and governor’s rule in KP. asserted
role → accuse → KP
“Those spreading doubts — the snakes and the serpents — will be defeated,” Raja wrote. asserted
Raja → spread → doubts
Subsequently, Gandapur took to X to hit back at the secretary general’s claims and, in a series of tweets and audio messages, took strong exception to Raja’s tone and tenor. uncertain
Gandapur → take → tone
Demanding that he bring to an end “the spectacle” that had been made of the party, the former KP CM said that the secretary general had no right to accuse others of conspiracy, or call them names like “snakes and serpents”. asserted
general → demand → snakes
“Do you understand this? asserted
you → understand → this
We know how to make others understand if they don’t get this,” he said in an angry tone. asserted
he → know → tone
Gandapur also accused Raja of “hiding” during the party’s protest movement and wondered why Raja and Gohar did not attend parliamentary party meetings. “If the parliamentary party of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa wants to seek a constitutional and political solution to the current crisis through consultation within itself, who has given a few individuals the authority to label these elected representatives as traitors, conspirators, or undemocratic?” he wrote. asserted
he → accuse → traitors
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