PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Peoples Party on Friday removed its president for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Najamuddin Khan, and gave the acting charge of the office to provincial senior vice-president, Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha.

A notification issued by PPP central secretary general Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari said, “Najamuddin Khan, President Pakistan People’s Party, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is unable to continue political activity/responsibility due to illness/medical reason. Therefore, with the approval of the competent authority, Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha, Senior Vice President, PPP KPK, would take the charge of acting president of the party in the province.”

Mr Najam, who belongs to Upper Dir district, was made the PPP provincial president in August 2021 after the removal of the incumbent, Engineer Mohammad Humayun Khan of Malakand district.

Acting president of the party Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha also belongs to Malakand. He currently serves as the special assistant to the prime minister on water resources and has the status of the minister of state.

Senior leader says ‘undemocratic’ move will further weaken party

Sources in the party claimed that Najamuddin’s removal came as a reaction of the top leadership to him proposing his son, Shakirullah, for induction in the provincial caretaker government. The name was dropped when the party’s leadership rejected it.

Mr Najamuddin later proposed his cousin, Shafiullah Khan, as the caretaker minister in the province.

The sources also insisted that the top leadership of the PPP was also satisfied with Mr Najamuddin’s proposals for appointment of office-bearers to the party’s sister organisations.

They said that the party’s media teams were also not happy with the provincial president and they recently boycotted their respective duties for 10 days.

The sources said that the party’s re-organisation wasn’t “properly initiated” in the province despite repeated instructions of the top leadership.

Mr Najam wasn’t available for comments on his replacement despite repeated attempts by Dawn.

However, PPP provincial senior vice-president Syed Ayub Shah complained about the move and insisted that the party’s top leadership had the right to bring changes to the party’s organisation but that should take place through a democratic process.

“No one has taken us [office-bearers] on board about the replacement of the provincial president. In my view, it is totally undemocratic step, which will further weaken the party. Workers will not extend cooperation if such initiatives continue in future,” he said.

Mr Shah said that being an ideological worker, he had always raised voice for “democratic culture” in the party by engaging the inactive workers to restore its past glory in the province.

He said that most senior activists had a long association with the party and loved its manifesto and ideology but such undemocratic steps would discourage them.

“Many of our senior people rendered sacrifices during martial laws, so they deserve to be taken on board on important decisions in the province,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2023