Sohail Afridi Has Proved Politically Incompetent and Cowardly: Atta Tarar

Islamabad: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar has criticised Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, accusing him of losing both his administrative credibility and political standing.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad alongside Prime Minister’s Coordinator Ikhtiar Wali Khan, Tarar said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) planned long march had turned out to be a “damp squib.”

Tarar said Afridi had already failed administratively and had now, in his view, also demonstrated political weakness and incompetence. He claimed that the KP chief minister had lost his standing within the PTI and had little political capital left.

The federal minister said Afridi’s political weakness had never been as evident as it was now. His remarks came after the PTI announced that its long march to Islamabad, originally scheduled for September 27, had been postponed to October 4.

Tarar also alleged that the PTI had links with militant groups and claimed that this was why the party avoided condemning terrorism. These were political allegations by the federal minister and were not independently established in his remarks.

Prime Minister’s Coordinator Ikhtiar Wali Khan questioned why the PTI had announced the long march if it ultimately intended to postpone it.

“If the PTI had to seek a way out, why did it announce the long march in the first place, and why did it mislead its workers?” Wali asked.

The statements came amid an escalating political dispute between the federal government and the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government over the planned protest movement and law-and-order situation in the province.

Meanwhile, KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has maintained that the PTI’s political struggle will continue and announced that the long march will now depart from Peshawar on October 4.