Rift in PPP Mansehra chapter deepens

MANSEHRA: The internal rift within the Pakistan People’s Party deepened on Wednesday as Malik Mumtaz, who was removed by the divisional president for Hazara Division along with the general secretary a day earlier, claimed that he was still holding the position as district head of the party.

“Our party’s constitution does not empower the divisional president to intervene in the affairs of district bodies or terminate any of their office bearers. I am still the party’s president here,” Malik Mumtaz told a press conference.

On Tuesday, the party’s divisional president in Hazara, Malik Mohammad Farooq, removed district president Malik Mumtaz and general secretary Maqsood Khan from their respective positions.

r Mumtaz said he had written a letter to the party’s Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, urging him to take notice of the unconstitutional actions carried out by divisional president Malik Farooq.

“Malik Farooq has lost credibility in the party’s Abbottabad, Haripur, and Battagram chapters, and he removed us without any lawful authority to divert attention from his failures,” he said.

Mumtaz further clarified that only the party’s central chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, was empowered by the constitution to remove the district president, general secretary and information secretary.

“No other office bearer, apart from the central chairman, has the authority to remove us from our party positions,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Malik Farooq, the divisional president of PPP in Hazara, has written a letter to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari asking him to notify the new district president and general secretary for Mansehra.

“I have removed both the president and general secretary due to solid complaints received against them, and new office bearers will be notified by the central chairman, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, within two weeks,” he told reporters.