Appeal made to Imran Khan to reconsider Marwat's ouster

• PTI divided over Marwat’s removal, discussions ongoing.
• PTI leader Shehryar Afridi pledges to raise Marwat’s case.
• Imran Khan cites discipline violations for Marwat’s expulsion.
  

ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR: Just a day after Sher Afzal Marwat’s expulsion from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Thursday urged PTI founding chairman Imran Khan to reconsider the decision, The News reported.

During a meeting with the PTI supremo at Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, Gandapur briefly raised the issue of Marwat’s removal. 

However, Khan expressed displeasure over Marwat’s repeated violations of party discipline through his strong statements. The PTI founder justified his decision, citing Marwat’s actions as justification for his expulsion.

The directives were issued during a meeting between the PTI leaders and ex-premier Khan at Rawalpindi's Adiala jail during the hearing of the GHQ attack case.

However, Gandapur requested the party leader to reconsider the decision, to which PTI’s founding chairman neither said yes nor no.

Following the directives, the former ruling party's Additional Secretary General Firdous Shamim Naqvi issued a notification on Thursday, which stated Marwat’s expulsion from the party

The Khan-founded party is also expected to seek Marwat's resignation as an MNA.

Last month, the PTI issued a show-cause notice to the lawmaker for violation of the party discipline for his remarks against the party's Secretary General Salman Akram Raja.

He was issued another show cause notice in May last year and ultimately his basic party membership was cancelled and he was asked to resign as MNA. However, the action was not taken against him after ex-PM Khan pardoned him.

The notices were served to Marwat for making harsh comments regarding the negotiations between the PTI and the coalition government, whereas, he also questioned Raja's legitimacy as the party secretary general without having contested the intra-party polls.

Separately, Raja has said that he has no involvement in the expulsion of Marwat from the party, as it is an internal decision of the party. Talking to the media in the Supreme Court here, Raja said that he does not want to discuss the matter, because this decision was taken by the party founder to maintain discipline.

As per protocol, Thursday is designated as the official meeting day for PTI’s founder. In this regard, Gandapur led a delegation of senior PTI leaders to Adiala jail.

Apart from Gandapur, other notable figures who visited Adiala jail included Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister Suhail Afridi, Haleem Adil Sheikh, Brigadier (retd) Musaddiq Abbasi, Seemabia Tahir, former KP Assembly Deputy Speaker Mushtaq Ghani, and Provincial Minister Taimur Jhagra.

The KP CM left Adiala jail after a two-hour-long meeting with Khan but Gandapur and the PTI delegation didn’t speak to the media.

Meanwhile, vowing to discuss Marwat’s position with Khan, PTI MNA Shehryar Afridi said that the incarcerated PTI leader did not discuss in his presence the expulsion of MNA Marwat from the party.

Talking to the reporters outside the Peshawar High Court (PHC), the PTI MNA appreciated Marwat’s contributions to the party. 

“Sher Afzal Marwat was always ready to promote the cause of the party. And I will personally discuss Marwat’s position with the party’s founder,” he went on to add.