Munir resigns from ARD office

Staff Report

LAHORE: Munir Ahmad Khan, the central deputy information secretary of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD), resigned on Wednesday under pressure from smaller parties in the alliance, sources told Daily Times.

However, Mr Khan said he resigned on ethical grounds. “Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan appointed me to this office and since he is no longer in this world, I feel the new chairman should fill the office according to his own wishes,” he said.

ARD sources said the leaders of the small parties sensed that with the demise of Nawabzada Nasrullah, this was a good time to increase there say in party affairs. “They have started blackmailing the two biggest components,” the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), they added.

“A group of small party leaders including Munir Hussain Gillani, Saifuddin Saif, Qazi Abdul Qadeer Khamosh and Khawaja Izhar had been complaining about Munir Khan for a long time but could do nothing because he was backed by Nawabzada Nasrullah,” sources said. At a recent ARD summit in Islamabad, this group reportedly met new president and chairman Javed Hashmi and Amin Fahim and asked them to sack Mr Khan. Mr Khan recently released a white paper on the ARD’s behalf of the four years of General Pervez Musharraf’s rule. This apparently angered the group of smaller parties. “He has no right to issue white papers on the ARD’s behalf.”

The PPP issued the same white paper from its Islamabad office on Wednesday when Mr Khan announced his resignation.

Talking to Daily Times, Mr Gillani said, “Munir Khan had no right to issue a white paper because it was not decided by ARD leaders.” He said even the top leaders of the alliance were unaware of the white paper. “As far as the status of Mr Khan is concerned, his fate will be decided at the ARD summit in Peshawar on October 25,” Mr Gillani said.

Mr Khan said he had informed PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto of his decision to resign. “I handed over my written resignation to Makhdoom Amin Fahim last night,” he said.

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