PTI suspends basic party membership of Ziaullah Afridi

Irfan Haider 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

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.'

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Favad

Jul 17, 2015 02:52pm

A very good example of how things should be done when an inquiry is initiated against someone. Good Work PTI

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M. Saeed Awan

Jul 17, 2015 02:57pm

And what about Justice(R) Wajihudin report whom he raised finger at Khattak, Taren and other hawks. Zia ullah a poor guy so was fired easily.

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Tariq Amir

Jul 17, 2015 03:02pm

PTI's myth of being clean party is exploding like all other myths. CM is fully involved in this big scandal. Many interesting details are emerging. Even great Khan was fully aware of this but kept quiet. We all now that such things cannot happen without all getting the due share in the chain of command. Aage aage dekhiye hota hai kaya.

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Jahangir

Jul 17, 2015 03:08pm

what about justice wajih report? What about attracting corrupts from PPP and increasing strength? what about actions against fake degree holders?

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Jahangir

Jul 17, 2015 03:08pm

what about using KPK govt. helicopter and visiting Manshera? is it not corruption?

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Jahangir

Jul 17, 2015 03:10pm

Poor lad fired easily. Big fishes are there but no, because they can help win elections and help in getting power. That is why attracting the rejected politicians of PPP, are they not already corrupt?

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Harmony-1

Jul 17, 2015 03:35pm

@Jahangir - Is a minister not a big fish? Compare that with Rana Sanaullah, who got restored to his ministry after a fake inquiry!!!

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Umer

Jul 17, 2015 03:40pm

@Jahangir He is not a poor lad nor a small fish. Please get your facts straight and don't get blind to bash PTI.

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Jamshed kundi

Jul 17, 2015 03:43pm

YOUR COMMENT Why we are not encouraging PTI govt for arresting his own and very acting but a parasite member. In such a situations when other parties gave clean chit to his members for committing more n more corruption then why we should blame for eradicating from such corrupts.

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Jahangir

Jul 17, 2015 04:14pm

@Jamshed kundi great justification. So, every party is the same. where is the change? In order to be a truly revolutionary party one should take action across the board, not to let anyone get away with the tag of performance, with his hands filled with corruption. So performance you say, where is the performance?

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Taimoor Khan

Jul 17, 2015 04:30pm

@Jahangir Question is, would Punjab, Sindh , Baluchistan governments would act against their sitting ministers in such fashion? Stop moaning about non issues.

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Farhan

Jul 17, 2015 04:40pm

@jahangir. You'r right. Some questions don't have answers attached to it, yet they are important enough to merit attention. This is what we call delima in our politics. Everyone on this earth makes decison that most suits for him/her and tries to avoid unfavourable decisions eventhough it might have against bigger crime.

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nadeem

Jul 17, 2015 04:40pm

imran never ruled pakistan so he is not cause of problems that all institutions are destroyed in pakistan,if he trying something good please encourage him. and be sincere to country not to peope who running pakistan like a family business

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jahangir

Jul 17, 2015 04:48pm

@Taimoor. The parties in Punjab, Sindh etc are corrupt. But PTI is a revolutionary party, if it acts in same fashion by letting big fishes go would not make PTI different from rest of political parties.

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Trust

Jul 17, 2015 05:43pm

Naysayers will keep saying No. The removal sends a signal, if you plan to do corrupt practice, you can be nabed. You see NAB is a informal verb meaning Catch in english....

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shero

Jul 17, 2015 06:03pm

I bet afridi is innocent and m sure that khattak is involved in it. Afridi will get clean chit i urge him if he gets clean to sue imran khan and pervez khattak for defaming him. And boys i m a staunch supporter of pti but CM and his B team ............ and DG estesan commission are playing very dirty.

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MAlvi

Jul 17, 2015 06:06pm

PTI is a clean party, and is becoming cleaner. It is all happening because of the party chief on the top. Imran Khan is clean. He wants to bring cleanliness to the party. How about Nawaz, Zardari, and others? There is no comparison.

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Kala Ingrez - کالا انگریز - काला अंग्रेज - কালো ইংরাজি

Jul 17, 2015 06:54pm

Leopard never changes its spot even when it changes its parties. Needless to say , it was coming because the corrupt politician have to spend money from their own pocket to stay popular and need a source of income – so they plunder and loot the public treasury or receive bribes when they get a chance. I see more and more use of English in the PTI office correspondences which is really a shame because a progressive party like PTI should adapt the national language and use it on every occasion, but we know PTI majority members are the same Leopards under different disguises.

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Mohammad Akhtar

Jul 17, 2015 10:27pm

Goos example PTI, if other parties do the same probably there is no one to be left there.

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wshaikh

Jul 18, 2015 01:22am

Good. However; the statement should have stated that his membership is suspended in accordance with the party charter and not on the instructions of the Chairman, Imran Khan. There should rule of and democracy within the party.

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Jul 18, 2015 02:35am

What happened to innocent until proven guilty? This is some new type of insaaf.

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Gul

Jul 18, 2015 03:19am

Imran Khan why don't you investigate J. Tareen and Haroon and Himayun Akhtar's the trios sugar industry business. Although the latter two brothers are N-League members, but they are partners with Jahangir Tareen in sugar hoarding.

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Tirah wall

Jul 18, 2015 11:18am

Not defending ZA's arrest but there are equal number of wrong doing allegations on CM KP , the so called Imtiaz Shahid ( having written apology to court for Safarish in judiciary ) and KP's speaker Asad qaisar. Hope we will see these three behind the bars too, if then we suspect something fishy in this case. Also QWP was expelled from govt on corruption charges, so opposing it is right. Overall it is welcoming proceedings in war against corruption and malpractices. Long live Imran khan.....Thank you IK.. and Eid mubarak :)

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Hopeful

Jul 18, 2015 11:19am

How gratifying to see anti-corruption move against sitting minister and swift action against the accused.Perhaps a rare occurrance in Pakistan.Other political parties,who reported promote corruption, rather than curb it, may have supported the accused covertly,or even overtly.

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Sajjad

Jul 18, 2015 01:46pm

PTI has no place for corrupt people.

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Sajjad

Jul 18, 2015 02:01pm

PTI has no place for mafia

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