PPP collects 11 resignations of 17 Punjab women MPAs

[Khalids]

Thursday, June 17, 2010

By Faizan Bangash

LAHORE: The PPP leadership has collected resignations from 11 out of its total 17 women members elected on reserved seats in the wake of a recent brawl between its two women parliamentarians.

Sources have stated that in a meeting chaired by PPP Women Wing President Faryal Talpur at Zardari House, Islamabad, Wednesday, all the women members signed the resignation papers circulated to each of them, except Sajida Mir who left the meeting without signing the resignation document.

Interestingly, Fauzia Behram, the member who had indulged in the scuffle with Sajida Mir Monday, didn’t turn up to the meeting which was convened for discussing the brawl which has brought disgrace to the party.

Sources have revealed that following the brawl between Fauzia Behram and Sajida Mir at the PPP parliamentary meeting a couple of days ago, the PPP convened the emergent meeting to warn its women MPAs of disciplinary action and seeking resignations from the two members.

While all the 17 women members of the party were called for the meeting, only 12 of them Azma Bokhari, Shabina Riaz Sheikh, Faiza Malik, Nazma Jawad Hashmi, Sajida Mir, Nargis Zafar, Nargis Faiz Malik, Saghira Islam, Najmi Salim, Asifa Farooqi, Amna Buttar and Kishwar Qayyum Nizami attended the meeting, while Fauzia Behram, Riffat Sultana Dar, Musarrat Hassan, Talat Yaqoob and Samina Naveed remained absent.

Sources said the meeting, also attended by PPP Parliamentary Leader Raja Riaz, discussed the row in detail. The party had decided to seek resignations from the two women members, but later preferred to seek resignations from all woman members, the sources revealed. But Sajida Mir refused to sign the resignation paper, recording her brief protest over the absence of Fauzia Behram. She insisted that Fauzia should also attend the meeting and all the matters should be discussed in her presence.

Sources also quoted Sajida as saying that she was nominated by Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and was ready to sacrifice everything for the party but justice should be done. Soon after this, Sajida left the meeting, while the party leadership also didn’t stop Sajida from the walk-out, in order to avoid further tension.

On the other hand, party leadership also took strong exception to the absence of Fauzia Behram from the meeting despite strict directions from the party high command, the sources revealed and added that Faryal Talpur, however, directed the women members to maintain party discipline and the cordial relations with the coalition partner in the Punjab during the budget session.

Sajida, a committed party worker from Lahore, had been in hot water in past also. She was also awarded ticket for the Senate by Benazir Bhutto in the past and was nominated chairperson of standing committee for health, but had to resign a few days later on charges of violating party rules, while the party members believed that her closeness with Naheed Khan and vociferous campaign for probe into Benazir Bhutto’s assassination were the reasons.

PPP collects 11 resignations of 17 Punjab women MPAs

 

[ejaz007]

Loyalty oaths sent to Zardari by PPP MPs
Friday, June 18, 2010
By Usman Manzoor

ISLAMABAD: While PPP high-ups have been denying the reports of seeking resignations from parliamentarians, one member of the Punjab Assembly has disclosed that all the 106 MPAs of the PPP from the Punjab have recently submitted their ‘loyalty affidavits’ to the party leadership, being wrongly termed resignations.

The PPP leaders Qamar Zaman Kaira, Fauzia Wahab and Farhatullah Babar have been categorically denying that no resignation has been demanded from the parliamentarians as the resignations were already lying with the party leadership, yet a few MPAs have gone public about the recent and changed strategy of President Asif Ali Zardari of demanding resignations from all the parliamentarians leaving almost every PPP man guessing as to what was the need of this move at this time.

Talking to The News, Dr Amna Buttar, the PPP MPA from Lahore, said no resignation was taken from the parliamentarians but a party ‘loyalty affidavit’ was wrongly dubbed as resignation. “The PPP has been taking these affidavits since Benazir Bhutto became the party chairperson; first, the loyalty affidavit was in the name of Benazir Bhutto and now, it is in the name of the party co-chairman,” said the PPP MPA, “Not only 15 but 106 affidavits have been submitted to the party leadership.”

Her disclosure is in direct contrast to what the PPP spokespersons have been saying on the TV channels ever since this news broke.She said such things happened in the PPP but the media had given a terrible twist and made the affidavits as resignations. “Whenever someone in the PPP is awarded a ticket, he/she submits this affidavit to the party leadership and there was no harm in it and this time, the affidavits are in the name of Asif Ali Zardari,” Amna held.

She mentioned that through the affidavit, a party ticket holder submitted his or her loyalty to the party chairman, including vesting in the chairman the right to issue resignation on his/her behalf.

When asked what was the need for taking fresh affidavits at this stage, Dr Amna said Nawaz Sharif had also taken such writings from his members, but nobody raised the issue. “We have full confidence in our co-chairman and if President Asif Ali Zardari will ask for our lives, we are ready to sacrifice, let alone submitting resignations,” Dr Amna said.

Another defiant MPA of the PPP from the Punjab, Sajida Mir said she had refused to submit her resignation when asked by the party leadership. “I left the meeting when I was asked to resign and after me, all the women MPAs submitted their resignations,” Sajida added.

She said she had a fight with Fauzia Behram in the Punjab Assembly and the meeting of the PPP Women Wing was called to settle that dispute, but resignations were demanded from all the MPAs instead of resolving the issue. Other MPAs, including Safina Saima Khar, Azma Zahid Bokhari and Shabina Riaz, denied that the party leadership had demanded any fresh resignation or affidavit.

Sources in the PPP said the party leadership had asked a few senators to submit their resignations and all the MNAs would be asked to do so after the budget session. The sources said it was expected that many of the MPs would not submit any fresh resignations without knowing the actual reason.

Loyalty oaths sent to Zardari by PPP MPs