PTI suspends basic party membership of Ziaullah Afridi

Published July 17, 2015
Ziaullah's removal from the provincial cabinet is also on the cards as Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has initiated proceedings and sent a summary to Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan in this regard.   — PPI/file
Ziaullah's removal from the provincial cabinet is also on the cards as Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has initiated proceedings and sent a summary to Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan in this regard. — PPI/file

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf on Friday has suspended the basic party membership of detained Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Mines and Mineral Development, Ziaullah Afridi, with immediate effect.

A letter, signed by PTI general secretary Jehangir Tareen, was issued to the provincial minister according to which the basic party membership of Mr Ziaullah Afridi stands suspended with immediate effect on the instructions of party chairman Imran Khan.

Ziaullah's removal from the provincial cabinet is also on the cards as Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has initiated proceedings and sent a summary to Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan in this regard.

Law and parliamentary affairs ministry Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi told Dawn on Thursday that the chief minister had requested the governor to de-notify Ziaullah as member of the cabinet.

He said the establishment department would de-notify Ziaullah’s portfolio after the governor signed the summary.

The provincial ehtesab commission had arrested Ziaullah on July 9 on the charges of misusing authority and allowing illegal mining in various areas of the province.

He is currently on physical remand.

Ziaullah, who was taken into custody from his house, was given on 13 days physical remand to the ehtesab commission on last Friday.

The commission alleged that the minister had failed to exercise his authority to prevent loss to the exchequer caused by illegal mining and rather he willfully facilitated the same for personal gains.

Also read: Resign or get the sack, PTI to Ziaullah

PTI had earlier asked Ziaullah Afridi either resign from his portfolio or get ready for sacking. Information minister Mushtaq Ghani told Dawn that either Ziaullah would have to resign himself or the provincial government would have to move to remove him from the provincial cabinet.

“As long as the inquiry against him (Ziaullah) is going on, he is not going to be a minister,” he said.

Also read: PHC asks Ehtesab commission to explain Ziaullah arrest

Meanwhile Ziaullah had challenged his arrest in the Peshawar High Court and alleged after his arrest that he was implicated in a false case at behest of Chief Minister Khattak for ‘not facilitating the front men of the chief minister in illegal acts.'

Opinion

Editorial

Trump 2.0
Updated 07 Nov, 2024

Trump 2.0

It remains to be seen how his promises to bring ‘peace’ to Middle East reconcile with his blatantly pro-Israel bias.
Fait accompli
07 Nov, 2024

Fait accompli

A SLEW of secretively conceived and hastily enacted legislation has achieved its intended result: the powers of the...
IPP contracts
07 Nov, 2024

IPP contracts

THE government expects the ongoing ‘negotiations’ with power producers aimed at revising the terms of sovereign...
Rushed legislation
Updated 06 Nov, 2024

Rushed legislation

For all its stress on "supremacy of parliament", the ruling coalition has wasted no opportunity to reiterate where its allegiances truly lie.
Jail reform policy
06 Nov, 2024

Jail reform policy

THE state is making a fresh attempt to improve conditions in Pakistan’s penitentiaries by developing a national...
BISP overhaul
06 Nov, 2024

BISP overhaul

IT has emerged that the spouses of over 28,500 Sindh government employees have been illicitly benefiting from BISP....