PTI Has No Plans to Dissolve KP Assembly, Says Barrister Gohar

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan has said that the party has no intention of dissolving the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, rejecting reports that the provincial government is considering such a move or looking for a replacement for Chief Minister Sohail Afridi.

Speaking to a private television channel, Barrister Gohar said there had been no consultation within the party regarding replacing Sohail Afridi. He also rejected reports about the dissolution of the provincial assembly and described them as baseless. Similar reports have been rejected by Gohar in recent media coverage.

He said the PTI’s decision to hold its long march remained unchanged. The party had earlier announced that the march towards Islamabad, originally scheduled for September 27, would now depart from Peshawar on October 4.

Meanwhile, PTI Information Secretary Shaukat Yousafzai had earlier written to Barrister Gohar and other party leaders, urging them to postpone the long march in the broader national interest.

According to the contents of the letter, Yousafzai called for postponing the protest in view of external security threats and an increase in terrorism. He expressed concern that the federal government could use certain issues as grounds for imposing an emergency.

Yousafzai urged the party to facilitate negotiations instead of confrontation with the state. He also warned that a possible attack from Afghanistan could be cited as a justification for emergency measures and alleged that the federal government was building a narrative that the KP government was not cooperating.

In his letter, Yousafzai further expressed concern that efforts could be made to remove the provincial government or that the PTI could face a ban on allegations of supporting terrorism. He referred to previous instances in which, according to him, PTI founder Imran Khan had called off long marches to protect workers’ lives.

The PTI subsequently announced that its long march would proceed on October 4 after the party’s political committee agreed to the revised date.