ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Core Committee on Monday expressed no confidence on Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, demanding his recusal in cases related to party chief Imran Khan.
Another highlight of the Core Committee, held here, was a verbal brawl between senior leader Sher Afzal Marwat and other leadership of the party as the former was accused of giving conflicting statements. Marwat lost temper when some senior leaders of the party accused him of damaging PTI’s narrative by giving public statements beyond his mandate.
On this, PTI MNA Marwat said that he led the party in difficult times when no one was ready to come out on roads following May 9 incidents of violence. At one point, the firebrand lawmaker and party leader Niazullah Niazi exchanged hot words till some other participants of the meeting intervened to defuse the situation.
Marwat is in the limelight for the last few weeks for his bold public statements but the PTI sees it a violation of the internal discipline. Recently, he had said PTI lost its reserved seats in the parliament due to its wrong decision to join ranks of Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC). But Chairman PTI Gohar Khan refuted his claim.
Addressing a press conference after the huddle, PTI Information Secretary Raoof Hasan said that important decisions were taken including formation of a committee to cooperate with the families of party’s women languishing in jails for the last 12 months, the IMF agenda regarding restoration and revival of Pakistan’s economy and other issues. He said that the Core Committee expressed serious reservations over the conduct of IHC chief justice, who heard all cases of Khan despite PTI’s concerns.
Raoof stated that the forum once again requested Justice Aamer Farooq that he should not become part of any bench hearing cases of PTI Founding Chairman Khan in future.
He pointed out that that the meeting was very concerning about the snail pace of hearing the cases against ex-premier Khan, adding that the government was making all-out efforts to further slow the pace so as to delay the decisions.
Moreover, Raoof said that they decided to register cases against PML-N leader and former interior minister Rana Sanaullah and Punjab’s senior minister Marriyum Aurangzeb for their harsh statements against Khan, which allegedly asked for his elimination. He added that party attempted to file an FIR (first information report) in Islamabad but police obstructed them.