Sher Afzal Marwat calls PTI-SIC merger ‘a mistake’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Sher Afzal Marwat has called his party’s merger with Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) ‘a mistake’ while demanding an investigation into the party’s ‘wrong decisions’, ARY News reported.

Speaking to a private news channel, Afzal Marwat said that his party’s alliance with Sunni-Ittehad Council (SIC) was ‘a mistake’ and is now paying the price in the form of losing its reserved seats.

PTI sealed its alliance with the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) in a bid to claim its share of reserved seats in the national, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies.

Barrister Gohar Ali Khan announced that party-backed independent candidates — who emerged victorious in the Centre, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the 2024 general elections — would join Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) as part of their parliamentary strategy.

Sher Afzal Marwat noted that PTI founder Imran Khan, who is incarcerated at Adiala Jail, was disappointed at Peshawar High Court’s Thursday decision to dismiss the Sunni Ittehad Council’s petition challenging the ECP’s ruling that denied reserved seats to the party.

“Imran Khan expressed his disappointment with the decision and instructed it be challenged in the Supreme Court,” he added.

He pointed out that PTI made two mistakes regarding alliance formation. First, instead of going ahead with alliance with the JUI-Sherani group, PTI turned to the PTI-Nazriati, a splinter group with ‘batsman’ as symbol.

“The second big mistake was that our decision to ally with MWM became victim to sectarian issues”, Marwat said, claiming that some PTI leaders received threatening messages and then it was decided to join with the Sunni Ittehad Council.

He demanded that disciplinary action should be taken against those who made such decisions which according to him went against the PTI founder’s directions. “Those who neglected Imran Khan’s directions should be taken to task,” he added.