• Gohar rejects resignation after Firdous Naqvi steps down from additional secretary general post
• Mashal Yousafzai quits party WhatsApp groups over disagreements with top leadership
ISLAMABAD: PTI’s Additional Secretary General Firdous Shamim Naqvi resigned from his position, while its outspoken senator Mashal Yousafzai quit the party’s WhatsApp groups over disagreements with the top leadership.
The PTI, however, did not accept the resignation of Mr Naqvi and reportedly managed to convince the veteran member to withdraw his resignation. Ms Yousafzai, however, had a heated exchange with PTI interim chief Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, which led to her quitting the WhatsApp groups.
A source told Dawn that Senator Yousafzai was among the party leaders who expressed a lack of trust in the PTI leadership over its failure to secure the release of Imran Khan. She did so at a recent meeting of the core committee that spanned two days. On Thursday, she raised this issue once again.
“Barrister Gohar threatened her that she may be expelled from the group. Over this Mashal Yousafzai said that she will quit the party groups and subsequently left WhatsApp groups of the parliamentary party and the core committee,” the source said.
On the other hand, Barrister Gohar rejected Mr Naqvi’s resignation. Firdous Shamim Naqvi is an elected representative of the PTI with the authority to issue official notifications.
“It was nothing but a disaster for the party…. Although Secretary General Salman Akram Raja has issued some of the notifications, those notifications cannot be accepted by the Election Commission of Pakistan, as the election watchdog had rejected the [intra-party] elections of the PTI and a case is going on in the Lahore High Court,” he explained.
PTI leader Sheikh Waqas Akram said Mr Naqvi had resigned, but Barrister Gohar rejected his resignation. “I hope that situation will be controlled as he [Firdous Shamim Naqvi] has not left any Whatsapp group of the party,” he added. About Senator Yousafzai, he said the PTI senator left the groups “in the heat of the moment”, and hopefully the situation would be resolved soon.
PTI workers arrested
Police arrested three PTI supporters outside the Adiala jail after they arrived with their leaders to meet Imran Khan. Advocate Awais Younas Chaudhry told Dawn that Sardar Sadaqat Hayat, Muhammad Bilal Khan, Malik Asif Mehmood Kashif, Jaleel Shah, Malik Haris Awan and Nadia Khattak were included in the list for meeting with Mr Khan on Thursday.
“Eleven of them, along with some workers, reached the Adiala jail, but the administration did not let them meet Imran Khan,” he said, adding that Malik Haris Awan and two workers Ali Raza and Umer Baig were later detained by the police. “I have informed the police that there was no case against Haris Awan and he had come to Adiala as per the directions of the Islamabad High Court, but the police are not willing to release them,” Advocate Chaudhry claimed.
Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2026