Ikramullah to move motion against MMA spokesman

By Ghafar Ali

PESHAWAR: NWFP Assembly Deputy Speaker Ikramullah Shahid said on Saturday that he would move a privilege motion in the assembly against the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal’s provincial spokesman for issuing statements asking him to resign from his post.

Mr Shahid told reporters that he would submit the privilege motion to the Assembly Secretariat on Monday or Tuesday to be taken up in the upcoming session of the NWFP Assembly. “Mufti Kafayatullah has damaged my privilege by asking me to resign from the post of deputy speaker as he is the spokesman of the MMA and not of the NWFP government,” he said.

He said the Constitution gave him the right to preside over the session of the assembly and that Mr Kifayatullah had no authority to say that the deputy speaker would not be given a chance to preside over the session. He said he would not succumb to pressure, vowing that he would continue criticising the MMA, which, according to him, had diverted from its manifesto. He accused the MMA leadership of not consulting smaller components parties of the alliance on various important issues.

He said if the MMA was interested in a no-confidence motion against him, he would face it rather than tendering his resignation. Mr Shahid belongs to the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Samiul, a component party of the MMA that has developed differences with MMA’s central and provincial leaders on certain issues. Mr Shahid said that only the MMA general counsel could decide about his resignation.

Home | National