ANP suspends membership of Afrasiab Khattak, Bushra Gohar

PESHAWAR - Awami National Party (ANP) has suspended the basic membership of former provincial president Afrasiab Khattak and former MNA Bushra Gohar over charges of violating the party's discipline.

According to a notification issued by the ANP, the two senior leaders damaged ANP’s reputation and were involved in activities against the party.

They were also accused of creating discord among workers.

The show-cause notice was issued by ANP central General Secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain on the directives of party president Asfandyar Wali Khan on Monday.

“Your activities are against the party’s interests, its constitution and discipline that have resulted in a huge loss to the party,” the show-cause notice read. It added that their activities had a negative effects on the workers as it created confusion and led to the misunderstanding that damaged the party’s interests.

The party had asked the two leaders to submit their reply within seven days or face action for violating the party discipline and policy.

In the notice issued, the party leadership acknowledged that they had received a detailed response from Gohar and Khattak, but said that it failed to satisfy them.

“Their responses are not at all satisfactory therefore the party president has suspended their basic membership according to the party constitution,” the party leadership said in the notification.

The notice did not state the exact charges or details of the activities for which the two leaders had been suspended.

Earlier, Mian Iftikhar Hussain had said the specific reasons could not be disclosed to the media as this concerned the party’s internal matters.