RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday restored the membership of four local leaders of the party, including MPAs Arif Abbasi and Rashid Hafeez.

The party’s additional secretary general Saifullah Niazi issued a notification allowing Arif Abbasi to resume his duties as the district president.

The PTI had suspended the membership of 10 offi cebearers following their fi ght with a cousin of Imran Khan at the venue of the sit-in in Islamabad on November 10.Secretary General PTI Jehangir Tareen had directed Shahid Zulfi qar to investigate the matter and report to him within 10 days.

Read: PTI suspends membership of 10 office-bearers

He also had asked Mr Zulfi qar to constitute a committee which listened to the views of the suspended leaders and gave a clean chit to four of them.

Investigations against the other six persons are still underway.

The party membership of Rawalpindi president Arif Abbasi, secretary general Rashid Hafeez, Omer Butt and president youth wing Rawalpindi district Faisal Mughal was restored.

A senior PTI leader told Dawn that the party had restored the membership of the two MPAs on the recommendation of the opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly, Mian Mehmood Rasheed, as he was of the view that the party could not afford a forward group at this stage.

He said the party was facing problems due to grouping in Rawalpindi city following the appointment of Ijaz Khan Jazi as the acting district president.

He said to launch protests in the province, the party wanted to end the differences among the local leaders.

Talking to Dawn, MPA Arif Abbasi admitted that the party chairman had restored his membership along with three other offi cebearers and asked him to start work as the district president.

He said the investigation committee had admitted that they were not present on the occasion when the brawl took place.

He said the committee would give its report within a week about the six other offi ce-bearers, including Sadaqaat Abbasi.

Published in Dawn December 10th , 2014