Faisal Vawda, one of the PTI’s most colourful party members, has been kicked off WhatsApp groups and suspended, after holding a press conference on murdered journalist Arshad Sharif which went against party policy. This development came a day before the party planned to kick off a long march to Islamabad against the government.

Vawda claimed that Arshad Sharif was murdered and that the government was not behind his killing. He claimed that Imran Khan was being misled and that the PTI’s long march is going to turn bloody. Shortly after, he was removed from PTI’s central core committee WhatsApp group.

In holding a press conference, Vawda has essential taken the lid off the PTI’s long march and Arshad Sharif murder case. He has tacitly accused his own leadership of putting the lives of PTI workers in danger by announcing the march. His tirade against the well-known “unknown forces” has accentuated the sensitivity of the situation.

By giving a clean chit to the “current’ establishment”, Vawda has taken the wind out of the narrative of PTI chairman Imran Khan who may have wanted to mention Arshad Sharif’s murder in his speeches during the course of the long march.

Vawda cleverly abstained from naming anyone but the effect of his press conference was to poison the minds of his audience by repeating that neither someone in the “current” establishment or “current’ government” was behind the murder of Arshad Sharif.

“Arshad Sharif’s going from this country and this world… now this is a matter of honour,” he said. “Whether someone stands up for him or not, I will. He was my friend, he was my mezbaan, and he was a dear dear friend. His martyrdom is not an accident.”

One possibility is that Vawda may have wanted to point the finger at the “previous” establishment.

Regardless, his comments that many “known and unknown” important personalities could be targeted during the long march is an aspect that cannot be ignored given the fears that law and order may deteriorate during the course of the next few days. It is also significant that Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Aaj News Wednesday night during his interview with Asma Shirazi, that the federal government will call armed forces, including the Pakistan Army and the paramilitary Rangers, to cope with PTI marchers, who plan to storm the federal capital next week.

Though the PTI has rejected Vawda’s claims and suspended him the damage has been done. The party would likely now be strategizing on damage control, while the government and its allies are likely to exploit the press conference for political gains.

In view of the development mentioned above, numerous press conferences are expected to be held Thursday.

It is not clear if we will see further comment from Vawda. He did say that he would share details in the coming days and disclose much other information, because he would not stay silent any more. “If Arshad Sharif can be shot, then anyone can be shot,” he said. “You can be shot, I can be shot. But our time of death is determined by Allah.”

Major claims by Faisal Vawda

1. Arshad Sharif was murdered, and the conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan.
2. No evidence will be found in the Arshad Sharif case, no mobile phone, no laptop. It has been erased.
3. We know how far an investigation will get in Pakistan, and as far as the Kenyan investigation, we know that conditions are worse there than Pakistan.
4. It is not that 20 bullets were fired and Arshad Sharif was killed. According to me, Arshad Sharif was killed inside his car or from close range. He was not shot 8 to 20 times. I think he was shot twice in the head and chest.

He said that the establishment had no role in the killing of Arshad Sharif. “People behind this conspiracy want bloodshed in Pakistan,” he claimed.

Read the full story from Wednesday night: Faisal Vawda’s press conference

“Influential persons who are behind this conspiracy are not far away from me,” he said, adding that he had recorded the names of the conspirators in a video.

“If anything bad happens to me, they will be responsible,” Vawda said, adding that he will expose the names of some people in the coming days.

Arshad Sharif was shot dead by Kenyan police in what they claimed was a case of “mistaken identity” some kilometers away from the capital city on Sunday night, while he was returning from Magadi Town.

Sharif moved out of Pakistan in August after a sedition case was filed against him over controversial remarks made by PTI leader Shahbaz Gill in his programme on a private news channel.