Statement against Gohar: Marwat issued show-cause notice, asked to apologise in two days

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf senior leader and MNA-elect Sher Afzal Khan Marwat was issued a show-cause notice on Saturday for saying that Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was removed as the party chairman over his unsatisfactory performance.

On Friday, he told Geo News that Barrister Gohar Ali was removed as the party chairman over his inability to do the needful after the alleged election rigging episode. His statement came as a surprise for many in the party.

Now the party has given him two days to tender an unconditional apology over what he said.

“It has come to the notice of the party leadership that you went against the party policy and gave a statement against Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, which has caused a significant distress that cannot be tolerated,” the notice read.

“You (Marwat) are given two days to tender an unconditional apology. If your reply is unsatisfactory or you do not respond, further action will be taken as per the party policy and rules,” warned the notice.

There is one thing common between Gohar and Marwat: both are lawyers and belong to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Interestingly, they pocketed over one lakh votes each in the recent general election. Sher Afzal Marwat slammed the show-cause notice sent to him on Saturday, claiming that only PTI founder Imran Khan was his boss.

“If Imran Khan will ask me to apologise, I will. A decent way would have been for Omar Ayub to personally call me and ask me to issue a public apology,” Marwat told Shahzad Iqbal while speaking in the Geo News programme.

“I don’t put my arms down when facing the barrel of a gun,” Marwat said, who has been slamming other party leaders, including founder member Hamid Khan, from time to time.

Marwat, while revealing his intent to continue his tirade against other party members, said he would give “satisfying” responses to all leaders who level allegations against him.

“The manner in which the show-cause notice was issued would weaken the PTI and divert the party’s attention from protests,” Marwat added.

The PTI leader noted that the party leaders were not holding protests and also asked them not to look towards Khan for every decision.

Later, Sher Afzal Marwat ‘reconciled’ with Barrister Gohar. “I supported Barrister Gohar becoming the chairman of the party,” Marwat said after the two met in pleasant mood. He said that his remarks were about the entire party leadership. “I didn’t use the word ‘incompetent’ for Barrister Gohar,” he claimed, adding that he wanted to tell PTI workers that they had “no rift.” “Barrister Gohar will remain the PTI chairman in the coming times,” he added.

Barrister Gohar said that the PTI did not want to get into personal conflicts.