More MNAs likely to be expelled from PTI after Sher Afzal Marwat

Days after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) expelled maverick leader Sher Afzal Marwat, the former ruling party has reportedly decided to expel more legislators, a media outlet reported on Sunday.

As per the media report, PTI decided to expel those party lawmakers who had failed to attend the parliamentary session for the passage of the 26th Constitutional Amendments.

Incarcerated former premier Imran Khan, the head of the party, has issued directives from jail to remove absent Members of Parliament (MP), said the report, noting that senators Dr Zarqa Suhrawardy and Faisal Saleem were among those who had remained absent on the day the controversial 26th Constitutional Amendment was passed. 

Moreover, the party also issued show-cause notices to Member National Assembly (MNAs) Aslam Ghuman, Riaz Fatyana, Zain Qureshi, Miqdad Ali Khan and Aurangzeb Kachhi for their absence.

Imran Khan conveyed a message to party leaders, urging that lawmakers who had been absent on the day of passage of the Amendment had no place in PTI, as they had acted against party line, said the media report.

The National Assembly (NA) passed the 26th Constitutional Amendment in the wee hours of October 20, 2024. Speaking on the NA floor, Opposition Leader Omar Ayub Khan criticised the constitutional amendments, calling them an attempt to strangle the independent judiciary.

He said those who had “gone missing” should have been thanked as well, adding that the government, which came into power of what he believed via rigging, had no right to amend the Consitution.

Sher Afzal Marwat’s expulsion

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) firebrand Sher Afzal Marwat's expulsion notification, which was posted on PTI's official X account on Wednesday night, read, “Further to the Show Cause Notice issued to Mr Sher Afzal Marwat and his subsequent reply, the party has considered his reply and also his actions subject to the Show Cause notice.”

“Taking both these aspects into consideration and on the instructions of Founding Chairman Imran Khan, Mr. Sher Afzal Marwat is being expelled from the party with immediate effect.”

Marwat’s termination came just three days after the former ruling party staged a rally in Swabi against what it believes was the rigged election of 2024.

A media report had earlier claimed that PTI leaders complained to Imran Khan about Marwat's behaviour at the February 8 Swabi public gathering.

During his speech, Marwat cryptically said that “bad people” always became helpful during "bad times", but some “good people in good times” have zipped their lips.

Last month, 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 on a private news channel.