Show-cause notices trigger unrest among PPP workers

PESHAWAR: The issuance of show-cause notices to the dissidents in various wings of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and to office-bearers who have quit has generated a debate and caused unrest among the workers in the province.

“More than 126 office-bearers of the People’s Youth Organisation (PYO) and People’s Students Federation (PSF) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have resigned from their offices in addition to another 22 from the PPP Peshawar. The provincial chapter served notices on them without even reading the party’s constitution,” said PPP leader Misbahuddin.

The irresponsibility and immaturity of the provincial office-bearers, he said, could be judged from the fact that three notices, which should have been issued to members separately in three phases and that too after the passage of 14 and seven days, were sent to members in the same envelope and on the same day. It is astonishing to note that the show-cause notices were issued to all those 22 workers who had resigned in protest against the provincial office-bearers decision to expel Misbahuddin from the party.

The dissidents ridiculed the provincial chapter, saying it should have first issued the notice and waited for 14 days before issuing another notice in case the reply wasn’t satisfactory.

“It seemed the provincial unit office-bearers were in a hurry to expel the dissidents from the party,” one of the dissidents said. He added that show-cause notices should not have been issued to those who are not willing to work.

The workers also pointed out the PPP district president for Charsadda issued notices to the dissidents in his district but in case of Peshawar the deputy general secretary signed the show-cause notices. They said one could pose the question as to whether there was separate party constitution for Charsadda and Peshawar.

The PPP general secretary for Charsadda, Akbar Ali and Kashif Jan, vice president, Charsadda were served notices by the district president, Amir Nawaz but the deputy general secretary, Jamil Daudzai did so in Peshawar.

The dissident activists quoted the constitution under which the party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari could suspend or terminate their membership.

When asked to comment on the issue, Misbahuddin said: “We have differences in the party on various issues. We have no confidence in the provincial chapter and we will raise our problems at every forum.”