PML-Q minister resigns over ‘interference’

LAHORE: A rift in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf led Punjab government became obvious after Hafiz Ammar Yasir, the minister for Mines and Minerals, and the only Q-Leaguer in the Usman Buzdar cabinet, resigned in protest against alleged interference in his ministry by the CM Secretariat.

“I am resigning because of the constant interference in the affairs of my ministry by Secretary to Chief Minister Dr Raheel Siddiqui, who is another Tauqeer Shah in the making,” said the Hafiz while talking to The News. He was one of the 10 PML-Q MPAs in Punjab, who was inducted into the Punjab cabinet.

In Punjab, the PML-Q, with 10 MPAs, is the major ally of the PTI, which if withdraws it support to the provincial government, Chief Minister Usman Buzdar will lose the simple majority. The PTI has 179 MPAs in the House and it needs a strength of 186 MPAs to attain simple majority.

The news about resignation of Hafiz Ammar Yasir, who was got elected from Chakwal on the PML-Q ticket, came to the surface just a couple of days after Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry claimed that it was PTI ‘kindness’ that it was not making a forward bloc in the PML-Q. Chaudhry Moonis Elahi, MNA, and a leader of the PML-Q, through a tweet, had expressed displeasure at the statement and warned that it could sour the relationship between the two allies.