LAHORE, Aug 24: Pakistan People’s Party secretary-general Jehangir Badr says Ghulam Mustafa Khar is no more a member of the party.

“Mr Khar has ousted himself from the party by violating the party discipline,” he said while speaking at a ceremony held here on Friday to welcome to the party Dr Amna Buttar, a sister of Supreme Court judge Justice Javed Iqbal Buttar.

Mr Khar has been criticising Benazir Bhutto for meeting Gen Pervez Musharraf in a bid to strike a deal.

Mr Badr said the former Punjab chief minister had been joining and leaving the party like a guest star.

When contacted, Mr Khar said the secretary-general had no authority to oust someone from the party as under the PPP constitution only party chairperson was empowered to take such an action.

“I am answerable only to the chairperson and shall respond to any notice issued by her.” He said he had been a colleague of the late prime minister and PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and could not be ousted by people like Jehangir Badr who had damaged the party.

He said that had they been sincere to the party they would not have wasted sacrifices of workers by attempting to strike a deal with the army dictator.

Mr Khar was all praise for PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif for the latter's principled stand towards army rulers and said that he would welcome the former prime minister on his return to the country.