PESHAWAR: Chairmanship of the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has become a bone of contention and triggered a tug of war between senior PTI figures after it emerged that its political committee had voted to replace maverick Sher Afzal Khan Marwat with Sheikh Waqas Akram.

A party insider told Dawn that PTI’s political committee met in Islamabad on Friday night under its chairman to discuss the nomination with majority voting to replace Mr Marwat with the MNA from Jhang.

The party insider said that nine of the 19-member committee headed by Omar Ayub voted for Shaikh Waqas, seven for Mr Marwat, with Aon Abbas, although present, opted to abstain. Former speaker Asad Qaiser and Mr Marwat were not present.

“This is a conspiracy against me by the PTI establishment,” a bitter and angry sounding Sher Afzal Marwat said, confirming the report, when approached for comment over the phone.

PTI political committee’s decision triggers tug of war among party leaders

He particularly named Mr Ayub and Shibli Faraz amongst those, he alleged, were engaged in never-ending conspiracies against him. “Because I am popular,” he said.

Dawn sent a WhatsApp message on Mr Ayub’s mobile phone seeking his comments on the allegations.

The party’s principal spokesperson Raoof Hasan, however, declined to make a comment on the subject, saying its founding chairman routinely referred matters to the committee for discussions and consultation and that whatever recommendations it came up with, were referred back to the jailed leader, who decided the matter either way.

“We are duty-bound not to talk about matters until such time when Khan Sahib decides the matter with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’,” the party’s central secretary information said on the phone.

“Anything else until then would be speculation,” he said, refusing to confirm or deny the development.

The MNA from Lakki Marwat, whose dramatic rise to prominence following the incarceration of party leader Imran Khan in different cases, has been in the news, from leading the party when most leaders were underground, his witty remarks and his no-holds-barred comments which have often put him at loggerheads with his party colleagues and others.

PTI’s current chairman, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan had on April 20 announced the nomination of Mr Marwat as chairman of the coveted PAC, which traditionally has been going to the opposition benches. “I have met the PTI’s founder today. He has directed to nominate Sher Afzal Marwat for the office of the chairman PAC,” Barrister Gohar had told the media after meeting his party leader at Adiala Jail.

Mr Marwat wondered what promp­ted the political committee to reverse the decision by the jailed party leader. “This is a 50 million dollar question,” he said. “Who brought the instructions from Khan sahab and persuaded the political committee to replace my name with that of Shaikh Waqas?”

“I am a member of the political committee but I was not informed,” he said. “And so was Asad Qaiser.”

He hinted at a “concerted conspiracy” against him by what he continued to call the “PTI establishment”.

He said that first his brother was unceremoniously removed from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet without giving him the honourable option of resigning himself and now he too was being removed through a “conspiracy”.

“I had asked Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur to hold the decision to fire my brother till the time I had the chance to meet with Khan sahab. But he chose to de-notify my brother instead.”

“This amounts to disrespecting me, my family and my tribe,” Mr Marwat said. “They are belittling me and humiliating me and my family.”

He said that he had decided to draw a line somewhere. “Khan sahab makes a decision and then these people go and meet him and make him change his decision,” he pointed out.

“I am meeting Khan sahab on Tuesday and will bring all the facts into his notice. I am fed up with this bickering and conspiracies and will request him to end the matter once and for all,” Mr Marwat said, adding that he would decide his own political future after that meeting.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2024