PTI ousts KP MPA, reprimands Senator Azam Swati

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Sunday threw a sitting MPA of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Amjad Afridi out of the party, reprimanding some others, including Senator Azam Swati, MNA Sheharyar Afridi and MPA Ziaullah Bangash for not safeguarding party interests, particularly during the local bodies elections in KP.
The PTI’s disciplinary committee, headed by Shah Mehmood Qureshi and including Naeemul Haq, Fazal Khan and Saifullah Niazi, after consuming several weeks finally came up with some key decisions on the heels of dumping its former deputy information secretary and organiser in a local constituency for allegedly taking millions for award of tickets to four candidates in the upcoming local bodies elections in Rawalpindi.
Adopting a unique way of clarifying his position, Chohan recorded his video statement, taking oath on the Holy Quran that he never took money for the grant of tickets to party candidates for the upcoming electoral exercise. He sent the short video clip to PTI chairman Imran Khan, hoping he would provide him an opportunity to explain his position before him in person.
Chohan’s clip has been widely watched on the social media, evoking interesting remarks from many. He has also sent on-oath statement of the four candidates to party chairman to prove his hands were clean. He was shown the door by Imran after being told he had pocketed heavy cash for giving tickets to the PTI candidates.
The central media centre issued a statement by Qureshi, PTI’s national organiser, who said that Senator Azam Swati was being strongly reprimanded for not protecting the party interests during local bodies polls in Mansehra. He would not be given any responsibility at the local level.
But besides Amjad, the strictest punishment has been awarded to PTI MPA Yasin Khalil for he prevented party councillors from voting for the party candidates. He will not be given any post in the government as well as in the party in future for his

casual conduct. Amjad Afridi was expelled from the party for his irresponsible conduct, which led to defeat of PTI candidate in Kohat.
Another PTI MPA Yousaf Arif was also being sent reprimand for showing irresponsible conduct during the electoral exercise along with another provincial legislator Ziaullah Bangash.
There were also rumours that the PTI MNA from Kohat Sheharyar Afridi has also been expelled from the party, but the party leadership didn’t confirm it.
Amjad Afridi was serving as adviser to the chief minister for sports and culture. Before joining the PTI, he was associated with the Awami National Party (ANP) and was minister of sports and culture during the coalition government of ANP-PPP.
The inquiry committee believed that PTI MNA Sheharyar Afridi and two MPAs, Amjad Afridi and Ziaullah Afridi had supported the PML-N candidate against the party nominee for the district nazim slot. Amjad Afridi himself was associated with the PTI while his brother Abbas Afridi belongs to the PML-N.
Most of the scions of known political families had won positions of district and tehsil nazims in KP. The PTI candidates had suffered defeat in some of the areas due to it’s own party leaders and activists.
In Mansehra district, where the party candidate, Shafaat Ali, had lost the election for the district nazim by only four votes, the PTI leadership believed that the four votes polled to PML-N candidate Syed Ghulam were of the PTI members. According to PTI leadership, they lost due to Shehryar Khan, the nephew of PTI leader Senator Azam Swati. Shehryar had demanded the PTI ticket for the district nazim, but the party gave it to an old stalwart Shafaat Ali.
It annoyed Shehryar and he along with four other PTI members decided to support the PML-N nominee. The PTI’s candidate had polled 40 while PML-N’s nominee secured 45 votes and was declared successful.
An insider of the party told The News that Azam Swati was supposed to be expelled from the party but his close personal contacts with an influential PTI leader saved his political career. Azam Swati had left the JUI-F and joined the PTI.
When reached by phone, MPA Amjad Afridi said he has not been informed officially yet about his expulsion from the party.
“Though I have no knowledge about my expulsion from PTI, I did nothing wrong against the party. My son had cast his vote in favour of the PTI candidate and that I wrote in my reply to the show-cause notice served on me,” he told The News.Similarly, MPA Yasin Khalil also denied to have worked against the party interests.
“Actually majority of the PTI councillors wanted ticket for town council for an old and active party worker Wajid Khan while the party leadership gave it to a newcomer Muhammad Ali. Since my hujra is being used as a party office, the PTI councillors and three independents who we have brought to our party on condition that we would support their candidate for the nazim slot gathered in my hujra and didn’t want to vote in favour of Muhammad Ali. I was convincing them and we were planning to go for voting when the opposition parties had already elected Muhammad Ali as town nazim and completed the voting process,” he explained.
Like other PTI leaders, Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak’s brother Liaqat Khattak was elected district nazim of Nowshera.The PTI leaders said that most of the party representatives had raised the issue on different forums and expressed their reservations over Liaqat Khattak’s nomination but nobody listened to them.
Pervaiz Khattak’s family members have already been elected MPAs, MNAs and senators on general and reserved seats of the party.The PTI had suffered a huge loss in Abbottabad where the disgruntled old stalwart Sardar Sher Bahadar won election of the district nazim while Shaukat Tanoli was elected naib nazim.
Sher Bahadur had been the PTI district president for the past 17 years but was denied the party ticket first for contesting election and then for the district nazim. He had won the election as an independent candidate.
He defeated Ali Khan Jadoon, son of former Federal Minister Amanullah Khan Jadoon, while Shaukat Tanoli won against Sardar Waqar Nabi, son of ex-provincial minister Sardar Ghulam Nabi.Both of them defeated the PTI candidates.
During the local government elections, Sher Bahadur had defeated a PTI’s candidate Sardar Umair, the brother-in-law of PTI leader and Minister for Information and Higher Education Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani.
He later re-joined the PTI with the hope that the party leadership would have learnt a lesson from past mistakes and would give him a ticket for the district nazim election.
“It is quite interesting that Shafqat Mehmood, who accepted the responsibility for party’s poor performance in the recent local bodies polls in Lahore, has been rewarded with nomination as a candidate for the post of NA speaker against the PML-N candidate Ayaz Sadiq,” remarked ex-linchpin of PTI and one of the founding members, Akbar Sher Babar while talking to The News on the development.
He quipped that no one should be surprised if tomorrow Amjad Afridi would be made organiser of PTI in KP. Already, the PTI MPA Javed Nasim, who was dumped thrice for working against the party, has been recently made parliamentary secretary in KP Assembly. “It is nadir shahi period, you can expect any thing from the leader,” he remarked.
It is to be seen how will these PTI lawmakers and activists react to this development: will remain part of the party or look for new political alignments; that is a normal practice in political circles in present times. References have already been sent to the Election Commission for disqualification of over 40 PTI councillors for not voting for the party candidates in the election of nazim and deputy nazim.