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Saadia Abbasi quits PML-N in Senate ticket row

February 13, 2009
ISLAMABAD: Senator Saadia Abbasi on Thursday quit the PML-N and resigned as a member of the Upper House of Parliament after she was ignored by the party leadership, which awarded the ticket for the upcoming Senate elections to Najma Hameed.

“I have resigned as a member of the PML-N and will send my resignation to the Senate Secretariat today (Friday),” Saadia Abbasi, who was elected on the PML-N ticket for women in 2003, told The News.

The tenure of Saadia Abbasi, along with 49 other senators, would end on March 11. She said her confidence as a sincere member of the PML-N was shattered by the decision to ignore her in the Senate elections.

The parliamentary board of the PML-N and the party leadership preferred Begum Najma Hameed, a veteran Leaguer from Rawalpindi, to Saadia Abbasi from the Punjab. “My brother MNA Shahid Khaqaan Abbasi will announce his future political association on his return from abroad tomorrow,” Saadia said. Tahira Aurengzeb, the younger sister of Najma Hameed, also made it to the National Assembly on the seats reserved for women.