“A few handpicked individuals are appreciating the decision but a majority of the workers are planning to resist the move,” a PML-N leader said while requesting anonymity.PML-N Youth Wing Information Secretary, Ali Khan Yousafzai lauded the efforts made by Safdar for organising the youth wing throughout the country. The suspension of Safdar’s membership could widen the rift in the party as the supporters of PML-N provincial president Pir Sabir Shah and Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan and those of Safdar are flexing muscles to show their power. Some senior leaders of the PML-N said that Nawaz Sharif should have consulted members of the central executive committee before authorising secretary general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra to suspend Safdar’s membership. They said suspending his membership of Safdar on the complaint of Sardar Mehtab and Pir Sabir Shah would not help resolve the issue.

The supporters of Safdar argued that the dictatorial decisions would have negative repercussions for the party in future. They asked the party leadership to review the decision.PML-N Women Wing Senior Vice-President Saeeda Awan urged the party leaders to withdraw the decision or else they would stage protest outside the residence of Nawaz Sharif in Raiwand. She said the party leadership should have probed the allegations before taking the extreme step. She alleged that Sardar Mehtab and his handpicked persons had used derogatory language against Safdar.

Saeeda Awan claimed that the remarks made by Sardar Mehtab had hurt the entire Awan tribe in Hazara and it would resist the monopoly of “Karlal” tribe, a reference to Sardar Mehtab, Javed Abbasi, Aurangzeb Nalotha and others. She threatened to resign from the PML-N women wing if the decision was not withdrawn.

PML-N Secretary General Iqbal Zafar Jhagra justified the suspension to suspend Safdar’s membership and said every worker would have to follow discipline. He said strict action would be taken against those violating party’s discipline.Jhagra said that PML-N was one of the major political parties in the country and the difference of opinion among its leaders could not be termed as a rift.