PTI Karachi MPA submits resignation to party leadership

Karim Bux Gabol, a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA from Karachi, on Sunday sent his resignation to the party’s parliamentary leader, citing that the party's divisional leadership and particularly MNA Saifur Rehman had been ignoring him and the residents of his constituency.

Gabol, the PTI MPA from PS-100 that comprises areas of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, was one of the three PTI MPAs who in separate video statements before the Senate elections on March 3 had announced that they would not vote for the PTI candidates. The other two MPAs were Shahryar Khan Shar and Aslam Abro.

However, on the day after the release of his video, he attended the Sindh Assembly session where a scuffle broke out between PTI and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MPAs. During the scuffle, Gabol’s fellow PTI MPAs wrestled him free from PPP, escorted him out of the assembly, and sped him away in a vehicle.

In a letter sent to Haleem Adil Sheikh, the opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly, Gabol said that on every floor of the party, he had raised his voice for his constituency. “My constituency [PS-100 that falls under NA-242] MNA Saif Ur Rehman always ignored me and people of my constituency,” the disgruntled PTI lawmaker alleged.

"Several times, I recorded my statement with my parliamentary party. I personally, [a] lot of times, informed Governor Sindh Mr lmran Ismail, Karachi President Khurrum Sher Zaman, Secretary General Karachi Saeed Afridi, and Parliamentary Leader Bilal Ghaffar [about the situation],” the letter read.

Gabol lamented that nobody took any action on his grievances, due to which he had decided to resign from his Sindh Assembly membership.

The News could not approach Gabol for comments as he had apparently switched off his mobile phone after sending the resignation letter. Karachi leaders of the PTI also did not issue any official statement on Gabol’s resignation.

However, a PTI Karachi office-bearer told The News said that Gabol did not intend to resign from the Sindh Assembly and he was only using resignation as a pressure tactic. Gabol had won from PS-100 in the 2018 general elections by bagging 17,197 votes.