Taking a stand: PTI activists protest Yaseen Khalil’s removal from cabinet

Demand central and provincial leadership reinstate the sacked adviser.

PESHAWAR:

Activists of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) held a protest outside the Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday to express their anger over the removal of Yaseen Khalil from the provincial cabinet. 

Protesters, from different areas of PK-5 constituency, set up a hunger strike camp and demanded the provincial and central leadership reinstate Khalil.

The party workers chanted slogans in favour of Yaseen Khalil. Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser arrived at the scene and assured enraged activists he would take up the matter with the PTI leadership. Following this, the protesters dispersed peacefully.

Khalil, when approached, told The Express Tribune he had already made it clear in the assembly that the only objection he and his voters had was the manner in which he had been removed from the cabinet.

“I should have been asked to submit my resignation,” he said.

Khalil added he has been in contact with his supporters and has urged them to refrain from agitation.

“This is our internal matter. I spoke to the protesters and asked them to end the camp,” Khalil said. He vowed to continue to fight for the rights of his constituency as an MPA.

Similar protests have earlier been held in favour of former health minister Shaukat Yousafzai who has also urged his supporters to remain calm as he had accepted the party’s decision.

Khalil and Yousafzai were removed from the cabinet earlier this month over ‘bad performance’.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2014.