Former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member Sher Afzal Marwat has claimed that his ex-party cannot stage protests as it has been weakened politically, publicly and ideologically since last April.

 

Speaking to reporters in Islamabad today (Monday), the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) firebrand said, “We have wasted last year, which was the year of protest and practical work. From April of last year to this April, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf  has been weakened ideologically, politically and publicly. We are not in a position to stage a protest.”

 

Questioning what he called the silence of PTI leaders after giving hope to people that a protest would be staged right after Eid, Marwat said that PTI knows that there is nobody to lead the protest.

 

He further said that those who could have played a role [in staging the protest] were left to face the wrath of social media. “Now, who would willingly subject themselves to abuse and rejection,” he asked.

 

Additionally, Marwat said that deaf and dumb people have been placed in the party who can’t come out for protest or can’t make people come out, adding that they [PTI leadership] are not answering why the party is not organising itself in Punjab, Balochistan, and Sindh. “Why did they waste one and a half years,” Marwat asked.

 

“It is PTI and Imran Khan’s misfortune that individuals like [Secretary General] Salman Akram have been imposed on the party, who have already shattered the unity within. The party has been rendered incapable of both protest and dialogue. In other words, Khan and the party have been left entirely at the mercy of God,” Marwat opined. 

 

Last week, Marwat had claimed PTI is now dominated by three pressure groups, and the party’s social media wing plays an important role in influencing narratives.

 

Marwat states that among the strongest pressure groups is the media, in particular, PTI-aligned YouTubers who produce narratives for financial purposes in dollars. He added that this media-focused messaging is coming at a hefty price for both PTI and Imran Khan in Pakistan and has largely added to internal divisions and intra-party discord.

 

Marwat identified the second pressure group as being from internal regional tensions. He asserted that PTI leadership in KP is being challenged by influences from Punjab because of linguistic biases, adding that KP is the only province where PTI still maintains an organized structure, whereas the party’s presence in the other three provinces is negligible.