Peshawar — Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) core committee has removed seven of its top leaders from the movement for contesting the upcoming polls, Dr. Said Alam Mehsud confirmed on Sunday.
Mohsin Dawar, Ali Wazir, Abdullah Nangiyal, Hamid Sherani, Irshad Turi, Abdul Wahid and Jamal Maliyar are among the top activists of PTM who all were removed from the core committee, “removal from the committee effectively means removal from the PTM,” Said Alam Mehsud said.
PTM’s leader Manzoor Pashteen was also present in the core committee meeting while deciding to expel the mentioned leaders from the movement.
Said Alam Mehsud tried to justify the action saying that PTM was created to fight for people’s rights and has no ambition to be involved in politics or elections.
He said that all the members were told to choose one, either PTM or go for elections. “There is no space in PTM for those who want to use the movement for political motives,” Dr Mehsud told.
It’s worth mentioning that Mohsin Dawar is contesting polls from NA-48 North Waziristan Agency, Ali Wazir from NA-50 South Waziristan and Abdullah Nangiyal from NA-49, whereas Hamid Sherani was standing from Zhob, Balochistan and Jamal Maliyar and Abdul Wahid from Frontier Region (FR) areas.
This move can create more confusion among PTM’s common members. They were campaigning for the expelled PTM’s leaders, who are contesting polls as independent candidates.
Ali Wazir, Mohsin Dawar and Abdullah Nangiyal are among those who actively and regularly participated in politics and have previously contested polls from their respective constituencies.