The parliamentary party of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has voiced full confidence in Sohail Afridi, Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Allama Nasir Abbas, according to sources who described a recent meeting.
Participants agreed to give the parliamentary party a bigger role alongside the core and political committees. They also condemned members who criticised their own party in the media, and asked Barrister Gohar to investigate those remarks.
Divisions over talks and the long march
Mashal Yousafzai reportedly expressed a lack of confidence in Sohail Afridi and the opposition leadership. She said that while the party founder was ill, Sohail Afridi cared more about a long march than about negotiations.
Also read: PTI shifts decision-making power to parliamentary party
Asad Qaiser responded that the party founder had voiced confidence in Sohail Afridi, Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Allama Nasir Abbas. Shafqat Awan urged Mashal Yousafzai to stop accusing party members or Sohail Afridi, arguing that colleagues were being targeted instead of the government, sources added.
Most parliamentary members backed continuing negotiations, sources said. Noor-ul-Haq Qadri reportedly used the word “negotiations” three times, prompting others present to applaud.
Firdous Shamim Naqvi resigns and notice pending
Earlier, Firdous Shamim Naqvi announced his resignation as additional secretary-general of PTI, saying no grievance or disagreement had prompted the move. He said he had not yet issued a show-cause notice to PTI senator Mishaal Yousafzai.
The development follows a directive from PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, given two days earlier, instructing Naqvi, a senior party leader, to issue the notice over what Khan described as a breach of party rules. In an earlier statement, Gohar Khan said: “I have always supported the right of everyone to express their differences of opinion on the party platform.”
