Pakistan Medical Association: Rift created over elections, one group denies poll legitimacy

Sindh general secretary convenes provincial council meeting to decide on ‘separate’ polls.

HYDERABAD/KARACHI:

A rift has developed in the Pakistan Medical Association in Sindh, which represents doctors across the province. The conflict has emerged at a time when the association’s election is around the corner.

Two groups have developed. One of them is led by the current general secretary of Sindh, Dr Hadi Bux Jatoi, who has allegedly ‘not allowed’ elections to be held for the PMA’s Hyderabad branch since 2000. The PMA’s rules say it must be held every two years.

Dr Samrina Hashmi, the former PMA Karachi general secretary, told The Express Tribune that their elections took place regularly in Karachi, but not in Hyderabad because of Jatoi’s “influence”.

She alleged that he along with his “cronies” misused the PMA’s name. “They endorsed cooking oil. It is not the PMA’s job to endorse any product.” They were warned repeatedly by the PMA’s central council in Islamabad, but Jatoi threatened to form a separate PMA instead in October last year. On this, he was expelled from office in December 2010 by the central council for attempting to stop the electoral process.

Subsequently, the PMA’s central council announced elections to be held across the province on April 10. The Hyderabad branch’s polls are to be held in Bhit Shah, Matiari, with Prof Dr Hussain Laghari as the chief election commissioner.

However, on Friday, Dr Jatoi called a press conference and challenged the legitimacy of the April 10 elections and convened a provincial council meeting to decide when to hold ‘separate’ polls. “We will ask the branches to fill all requirements within six weeks and also the provincial council to decide the [separate] election date,” he said.

He is against the elections because he claims that his expulsion was uncalled for. Dr Jatoi told the press that that according to the PMA’s constitution, he could not be kicked out without an inquiry and a fair hearing. “I am a lifetime member of the PMA. They cannot expel me in an unconstitutional way.”

Thus, he has asked for a stay order from the court.

Dr Jatoi accused a ‘Karachi group’ for the election row. “Dr Tipu Sultan, Dr Sirajud Dola and Dr Sher Shah are playing musical chairs for the PMA’s official positions, which see-saw from a brother, to a cousin, then to a nephew and so on,” he alleged.

Dr Tipu Sultan is holding the PMA chairman office illegally, he said. “I have expelled the Karachi group from Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the Punjab. Now they need to be forced to relinquish their claim to the Sindh office as well.” He said that the provincial council meeting would discuss the elections for Sindh so that the body’s leadership could be passed on to young, motivated and professional doctors.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th,  2011.