- PTI announces cancellation of Marwat membership through notification.
- The committee has “recommended” termination of membership.
- Panjutha also affirms the notification regarding Marwat's membership.
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday “decided” to cancel the basic membership of Sher Afzal Marwat's party for “serious violation/breach” of discipline.
The PTI, in a notification supported by PTI Additional Secretary General Firdous Shamim Naqvi, announced this decision, which has been denied by PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan, calling the notification “fake”.
“The notification regarding the cancellation of Sher Afzal Marwat's membership is fake. It is not possible,” he said in response to the report, showing that the PTI leadership is divided over the party membership of the maverick politician, who was also earlier warned by the party to be careful with his words.
The PTI notice said Marwat was put on notice and asked to “restrict himself and his statements to the limits set out in the letter. A committee has been set up to monitor his statements, media appearances and tweets,” it added.
“The committee has come to the conclusion that Sher Afzal Marwat does not respect the rules and discipline of the party and considers himself above the party norms, [which] Consequently, it seriously affected the party's image and the party's narrative.
“On the basis of the findings of the committee and your latest representations and complaints received, the committee has recommended termination of your membership and the same has been approved by the founding president Imran Khan,” the notification said.
He further said the committee had also stated that if Marwat was a honourable person, he should resign from the National Assembly seat he won as a PTI-nominated candidate and seek re-election.
On the other hand, PTI leader Naeem Panjutha also affirmed the notification regarding the cancellation of Marwat's membership.
PTI leader Marwat was served a show-cause notice on May 11 for violating the party's code of conduct and policy.
Marwat, who remains in the spotlight due to his blunt and controversial comments, landed in trouble after claiming that Saudi Arabia was also allegedly involved in the overthrow of the Khan-led government in 2022.
The top leadership of the former ruling party not only distanced itself from Marwat's statement on Riyadh but also sent a show-cause notice to the embattled PTI leader.
The show-cause notice, issued by PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan, had said Marwat's “irresponsible statements have damaged the reputation and interests of the party despite having received clear instructions from the founding president Imran Khan not to violate the known and declared positions of the party.”
According to the notice, the politician had “damaged relations” with party colleagues and stakeholders through his actions and words.
On May 9, Ayub had said that the PTI had expelled Marwat from its political and grassroots committees on Khan's directives. He had said that the politician had been warned time and again not to violate party policies.
