PESHAWAR: Awami National Party terminated the basic membership of another senior leader Abdul Latif Afridi, lovingly called Latif Lala by all his political and legal juniors, after he did not respond to a show-cause notice issued to him on August 23 for violating the party discipline.

ANP provincial secretariat issued a notification on Monday regarding termination of Abdul Latif Afridi’s party membership.

“ANP provincial president Aimal Wali Khan has terminated the basic membership of party senior leader Abdul Latif Afridi for not responding to the show-cause notice issued to him,” said the notification.

Abdul Latif Afridi, who is also president of Peshawar High Court Bar Association, did not attend the telephone calls to know his views. He remained MNA after winning elections in erstwhile Khyber Agency as an independent candidate in first ever polls in tribal areas in 1997.

Latif Afridi didn’t respond to notice issued over son’s poll participation as independent

He was associated with ANP since its early days. He parted ways with ANP in 1989 when he opposed its alliance with PML-N. He rejoined ANP in 2005 along with nationalist leaders like Ajmal Khattak and Afzal Khan Lala.

It is pertinent to mention here that ANP had issued show-cause notices to its three senior leaders including Abdul Latif Afridi, Imran Afridi and Ayaz Wazir for violating party discipline in July 20, 2019 elections in tribal districts for the provincial assembly seats.

The show-cause notice issued to Abdul Latif Afridi said that his son contested elections as an independent candidate.

It said that being the senior leader the party had always respected him, however, neither Mr Afridi nor his son considered it appropriate to apply for party ticket when the parliamentary board sought applications from candidates. Mr Afridi campaigned for his son instead of supporting the ANP candidate, it added.

A similar show-cause notice was also issued to Imran Afridi, another leader of ANP from Bara in Khyber tribal district, accusing him of violating party discipline. Ayaz Wazir, another young leader of South Waziristan district, was also issued show-cause notice for taking part in activities that harmed the interests of the party.

Earlier ANP had also terminated membership of two former parliamentarians, Afrasiab Khattak and Bushra Gohar, for violating party discipline.

Meanwhile, ANP provincial president Aimal Wali Khan also issued another show-cause notice to its sitting Senator Sitara Ayaz for “using party for personal interests and creating rift in the party.”

She has been asked to provide a satisfactory reply within seven days to the party regarding the concerns raised in the show-cause notice.

“You are a senator because you got elected on party ticket. You have remained MPA and later were appointed as provincial minister by the party. You have remained on responsible party positions. Almost every time the party has honoured you and encouraged you. But unfortunately you have been found violating party discipline and according to the party’s district organisations and other sources you have been accused of creating division in the party,” said the notice.

It said that she violated party discipline during her visit to her hometown Swabi as a senator. It asked her to give a satisfactory reply to the notice within a week or face disciplinary action.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2019