PESHAWAR: The PTI dissident lawmakers have put off action against own government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the party`s central leadership intervened to prevent confrontation in the party`s rank and file, sources said.

Five MNAs, seven MPAs and dissident organisers of the ruling PTI from different districts met at the residence of MPA Yaseen Khan Khalil here on Friday to `salvage` the party, said a source privy to the meeting.

`The agenda of the meeting was to save the PTI and its ideology, which is on the verge of collapse in KP,` he said.

The source said a news conference was scheduled to be called after the meeting but it was cancelled at the request of the party`s high command.

Differences have surfaced in the PTI at a time when its chairman, Imran Khan, had announced the launch of a countrywide protest movement against the federal government on August 7.

Imran Khan himself was not satisfiedwith the performance of the KP government as he expressed reservations about the election rally in AJK.

The PTI MPAs also came down heav11y on the government during the budget session in KP Assembly. Some lawmakers were not allowed to take part in debate.

Sources said the dissident group was under pressure from the party`s central leadership not to go to the media as it assured them Imran Khan would personally take up their grievances with Chief Minister Pervez Khattak.

`The party central leaders requested us to defer announcements against the government for at least four days,` an insider said, adding that if dissidents didn`t get a positive response from Banigala (Imran`s residence near Islamabad), they would organise the workers convention in Peshawar.

The insider said the group would hold its next meeting after a week. He claimed the number of disgruntled MPAs would increase in the next meeting.

MNAs Dawar Khan Kundi, Amir Ullah Marwat, Khyal Zaman, Sajid Nawaz and Junaid Akbar and MPAs Yaseen Khalil, Qurban Ali Khan, Jamshid Khan, Babar Saleem,ShakeelKhan,AmjadAfridiand Abdul Ahad were present in the meeting.

It was decided in the meeting that dissidents would hold conventions in allfour zones of KP to mobilise the party`s workers against the coalition government, the source said.

He added that there were widespread resentment among workers, MPAs, Senators and MNAs against Pervez Khattak and his ministers.

The source claimed that Imran Khan had summoned Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and some ministers to Islamabad to discuss the party`s internal matters and grievances of the group.

Officials said Mr. Khattak along with senior officers was in Islamabad on Friday for his scheduled engagements.

They said major objection of the dissident group was that the government didn`t follow the party`s ideology and manifesto and had serious reservations about the performance of few ministers.

The officials said the KP government had violated the PTI ideology and thus, weakening the party`s political position in the province. `It is a big dilemma that neither corruption has been eradicated from the province nor is the merit being observed in appointments, postings and transfers. The status quo still exists, said a member of the dissident group.

He said appointments had been made to health, education and other departments against the merit, while the performanceoffewministerswasextremely poor.