Alleged horse-trading: PTI workers hold protest outside dissident’s house

The lawmaker responds to party show-cause notice

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s dissident lawmaker from Peshawar Javed Nasim said on Monday he has replied to a show cause notice issued to him by his party.

“I have submitted my reply to those who had issued it,” Nasim told The Express Tribune, without explaining the contents of his reply.

Earlier on Sunday, Nasim was issued a show cause notice by the PTI chairman Imran Khan to explain his position within 24 hours. The notice, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, says that Nasim has seconded nomination papers of Waqar Ahmed Khan and Fozia Fakhruzaman, who were not PTI members.



The notice read that under the Political Parties Order (PPO) 2002 any member of the PTI may be suspended or expelled from the party in accordance with the procedure provided in the constitution, after giving him an opportunity to show-cause against the action/misconduct, disobedience to the party discipline.

It further states that under article 63-A (1) of constitution, for suspension or expulsion from party membership of an elected member, the head of party, chairman in PTI’s case, can declare in writing of defection from the party and forward its copy to the presiding officer – speaker assembly in the case of Javed Nasim, an MPA – and election commissioner and also forward a copy to the member concerned.

“Under article 63-A (3) of the constitution upon receipt of the declaration the presiding officer, i.e. speaker assembly K-P, is bound to refer the same to the Chief Election Commissioner within two days and if he fails to do so, it shall be deemed to have been referred,” it read.

PTI’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa General Secretary Khalid Masood said the notice was issued from Islamabad, and he was not aware of any updates on it.

Earlier in 2014, PTI cancelled Nasim’s party membership after he had failed to answer a show-cause notice by the party’s K-P president on staging a sit-in against chief minister of the province, Pervez Khattak.

Later on Monday, some 150 PTI workers staged a protest over horse-trading outside MPA Javed Nasim’s residence on Dalazak Road locality of Peshawar after he backed Senate election candidates other than those holding PTI tickets.

Led by Insaf Student Federation K-P President Sohail Afridi and PTI’s district Peshawar General Secretary Younas Zaheer, the protesters carried placards inscribed with slogans “Javed Nasim is a traitor”.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 3^rd, 2015.