ISLAMABAD, Sept 12: The Pakistan People’s Party on Wednesday expelled Ghulam Mustafa Khar for what it called violating the party discipline by speaking against the party leadership in the media.

Sources said the party had been considering the action against Mr Khar for the past few weeks, but took the final decision after he travelled from London to Islamabad with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the same aircraft on September 10.

Mr Khar had criticised PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and other party leaders for holding talks on a power-sharing deal with the Musharraf regime.

According to him, Ms Bhutto was acting in contrast to her late father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s principles by engaging herself in talks with a military dictator.

PPP secretary-general Jahangir Badar in a statement on Wednesday said that Ghulam Mustafa Khar was no longer a member of the party and “it will be incorrect to refer to him as a PPP leader”.

He said Mr Khar had violated the conditions necessary for the party membership and, therefore, ceased to be a member of the party. He said this was the ninth time Mr Khar had left the party.

The secretary-general said that during the last party meeting in London, Mr Khar had asked for tickets of two National Assembly seats for his nominees in Muzaffargarh. But, the divisional president as well as local party office-bearers opposed it, he said, adding: “The dispute resulted in Mr Khar quitting the party.”

PPP spokesman Farhatullah Khan Babar confirmed that Mr Khar had been expelled from the party for maligning the leadership in the media. He said Mr Khar in a TV interview openly announced that he wanted to campaign against the PPP. “Actually, he (Mr Khar) called for his expulsion,” he added.