No one's future in PTI safe: Marwat

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly member and ousted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Sher Afzal Marwat Monday said that no one’s future in the party is safe after people like him are expelled.

Talking to the media outside the Islamabad High Court, he said that anyone can be expelled through a tussle, adding that there should be an answer for expulsion from the party. When pointed out that party founder chairman Imran Khan on the issue of 26th Constitutional Amendment has asked for the expulsion of those who were absent and that Zain Qureshi should be spared, Marwat replied that Zain Qureshi was considered because of Shah Mehmood Qureshi for he is his son and Qureshi’s sacrifices are there.

“We will have to accept this. This does not fall under the category of hereditary politics but under the category of discrimination; there should be no discrimination. I have been shouting for four days to know the reason for my expulsion. Such stubbornness and totalitarianism does not happen anywhere,” he remarked.

Marwat claimed that the party founder himself said that “are we slaves, we are not slaves, we will raise our voice.” The founder is being misguided on the most key factors of the party, he said adding that the ‘Qabza’ group is trying to capture the party.

“I swear that as long as I am alive, I will shatter their dream of capture. I will not form any bloc. I am with the founder PTI. The sensible people in the party should think about what is going on in the party,” he maintained.

He said that “success is not in our credit; we are moving forward by knocking each other down; let’s take accountability for one year; what is our success; there is none, when there is no success, it means everything is going wrong.”

Marwat claimed that the main task is to get the founder released, get the mandate, and make the people aware, build their courage after November 26. In a related development, Imran Khan has called for a meeting with Marwat and a message has been conveyed to him by the party people.

Marwat said that an MNA has told him that the PTI founder has called him. “I will meet him and complain why I was expelled without listening to me,” he remarked. Several party lawmakers during the parliamentary party had decided to send a message to the founder in favour of Marwat. On his part, Barrister Gohar said that this is an internal matter of the party and it will be resolved internally.

While speaking to a private news channel, Sher Afzal Marwat claimed on Monday that former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa conspired with former chief justice Saqib Nisar to oust former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from power.

“Nawaz [Sharif] was wrongly removed...no one has any doubt that Bajwa along with Nisar ousted him,” the disgruntled politician said.Nawaz lost the prime minister’s office in 2017 and the presidency of his party in 2018, as a result of the Panama Papers ruling. He was sentenced to seven years in jail by an accountability court in the Al-Azizia case in December 2018.

Speaking to the private news channel, Marwat said Nawaz was removed through a joint conspiracy hatched by the then-establishment and ex-CJP Nisar. However, he clarified, that the PTI could not have played any role in Nawaz’s ouster. “The crime for which he [PML-N president] was convicted was wrong...if he had been removed in Avenfield or Panama, it would be different,” he added.

Meanwhile, talking to the media outside Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, Imran’s lawyer Faisal Chaudhry said the hearing of the Toshakhana II case was postponed without any reason until February 27.

He said that on the directions of the founder he approached the court for a meeting but despite the court orders, access to Imran Khan was not given. Faisal contended that those who are talking about grouping are also subordinate to the PTI founder.