Factual clarification regarding the resignation of Ms Fauzia Kasuri from the Party
It is with great regret that PTI has been compelled to issue the following factual clarification regarding the resignation of Ms Fauzia Kasuri from the Party. PTI has the highest regard for her work for the Party and feels it is the right of every individual to decide for themselves whether they can continue working for the ideology of PTI or not. However, it is equally the right of PTI to clarify some erroneous statements made by Ms Kasuri – given her long association with the Party one would prefer to leave out the phrase “false allegations”.
The Founding members of PTI were the following: Imran Khan, Naeemul Haque, Ahsan Rasheed, Hafeez Khan (now in Canada), Mowahid Hussain Syed (now in US), Mahmood Awan (now in US), Nausherwan Burki (now in US). These seven members founded the Party in April 1996. No one else is a “founding member” while many may be very old members.
Ms Kasuri was disqualified from contesting the intra-party elections because she had not even begun the process of surrendering her US nationality at the time of the elections – 21st March 2013. She had been a member of the Constitution Committee of PTI as well as the central PSC and was well aware of the restrictions on dual nationals holding Party office. The relevant laws which led to her disqualification from the intra-party elections are:
S. 5(1) of the Political Parties Order 2002 states the following:
“5. Membership of political parties.- (1) Every citizen, not being in the service of Pakistan, shall have the right to form or be a member of a political party or be otherwise associated with a political party or take part in political activities or be elected as an office-bearer of a political party:
Provided that a person shall not be appointed or serve as an office-bearer of a political party if he is not qualified to be, or is disqualified from being, elected or chosen as a member of the Males-e-Shoora (Parliament) under Article 63 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan or under any other law for the time being in force.”
Article 63(1)(c) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan states the following:
Disqualifications for membership of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament):
(1) A person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), if:-…
(c) he ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan, or acquires the citizenship of a foreign State; or…”
[The matter had been discussed in great detail by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the case of Syed Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi v Federation of Pakistan, PLD 2012 SC 1089, which also affirmed the literal constructions of the above-mentioned legislation.]
(3) A day after the intra party elections, 22 March 2013, Ms Kasuri went to the US Consulate Lahore to begin the process of citizenship renunciation and herself circulated the letter issued. Letter from US Consulate testifying to the same is also attached.
(4) She then demanded a reelection of the intra party elections to accommodate her, which could not be done legally as elections had been held according to the rules. Also, legally citizenship ceases to exist after the final certificate has been issued by the concerned government so her eligibility was legally not restored by 22nd March 2013 when she made the demand.
(5) The PTI Women Priority list was finalized by 31st March 2013 and she was informed that she was No 4 in the Punjab List for the National Assembly. She not only accepted the order but took part in the election jalsas and other activities. The expectation was that PTI would win enough NA seats in Punjab to accommodate a number of the women on the Priority List. The list was sent to the ECP to meet their deadline. It was displayed publicly on the ECP notice board subsequently. Ms Kasuri, at the time of scrutiny, also raised slogans against other PTI women candidates, in front of all political parties’ candidates. The Party took note but allowed this transgression of Ms Kasuri’s to pass.
(6) It was only after the election results came out that Ms Kasuri started her campaign of maligning the party and the women selected by the leadership for the Reserved Seats. Despite this, the Party leadership took a lenient view and refused to take action against her by issuing a show cause notice.
(7) On the day of her resignation she spoke to the Chairman and expressed an interest in NA 48 but the Chairman made no commitment. However, the Chairman’s sister personally visited her on her own as they were old friends, to try and keep her within the party on grounds of ideology. It was only later that the revelation was made about her already having had meetings with the women of the Sharif family.
(8) Ms Kasuri also hurled allegations of financial misconduct by some senior and founding members of the Party. These are absolutely male fide allegations with no base in fact. All PTI funds are audited by one of the top Chartered Accountancy firms in the country.
(9) Her allegations of there being a mafia group controlling the Chairman are also baseless. The only people surrounding Chairman Khan, while he is recovering from his accident, are his family. All other members of the Party are busy doing their work in different parts of the country. Mr Naeemul Haque as Head of the Chairman’s Office is the only PTI member by his side in Lahore.
It is with great regret that PTI has been compelled to issue the following factual clarification regarding the resignation of Ms Fauzia Kasuri from the Party. PTI has the highest regard for her work for the Party and feels it is the right of every individual to decide for themselves whether they can continue working for the ideology of PTI or not. However, it is equally the right of PTI to clarify some erroneous statements made by Ms Kasuri – given her long association with the Party one would prefer to leave out the phrase “false allegations”.
PTI still feels Ms Kasuri made a hasty and emotive decision to go public about her perceived grievances and many PTI members have been served show cause notices or removed from the Party for the same - but it was her choice. However, it would have been better had she not sought to hurl baseless allegations while concealing the real facts about her intra party disqualification and her placement on the Women Reserved Priority List.
Rizwan Chaudhry
Incharge, Central Media Cell
Islamabad
