Second thought: Dasti does a volte-face over resignation

Says President Zardari has set up a committee to investigate charges against Khar.

KARACHI: Less than 24 hours after quitting, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Jamshed Ahmed Khan Dasti decided to withdraw his resignation, saying, “I will never leave the PPP.”

The afterthought apparently came when, according to Dasti, President Asif Ali Zardari constituted a committee to investigate the allegations levelled by the MNA against Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, alleging that she had “taken over” his constituency in Muzaffargarh.

“I can assure you that Khar belongs to a feudal mindset … they tend to follow their own vested interests,” the MNA said while speaking toThe Express Tribune. “She has done the same in the past, and will change her party in the future as well,” he said, adding, “However, whichever party she joins, I will defeat her now in NA-179 … from where I will contest the next general elections.”

Dasti said he had taken back his decision to leave the party after PPP MNA Faryal Talpur called him up to assure him that he was like “her younger brother” and the party would conduct “a merit-based inquiry into the charges against Khar”.

“I have withdrawn my resignation from the National Assembly and the PPP. I had been forced to resign. The NA seat means nothing to me. Everything for me … my identity … is my party. And if I leave, it will only be because of Khar,” Dasti said, alleging, “Khar’s family has enmity against me because I defeated her uncle Ghulam Mustafa Khar.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2012.