District Zakat committee: PTI office-bearer quits over JUIF nominee’s appointment

MANSEHRA: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Lower Kohistan senior vice president on Saturday tendered his resignation in protest against the appointment of a Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF) MPA’s brother as the head of the district Zakat committee.

“My father Malik Mir Zad Khan, who was a close aide to PTI’s founding chairman, and I have rendered sacrifices for the party in this district. However, instead of issuing my notification, the party leadership appointed the JUIF MPA’s younger brother as the head of the district Zakat body,” Abdul Hakeem, who resigned from the position of senior vice president in Lower Kohistan, told reporters.

He said that he was among the party leaders and office-bearers who were jailed following May 9 and other incidents.

“I am not seeking the position of chairman of the Zakat department for personal gains. However, the party leadership has deceived not only me but also the district presidents and their bodies in Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan, and Kolai-Palas,” Hakeem said.

He said that the PTI’s provincial general secretary, Ali Asghar Khan, in consultation with Speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Babar Saleem Swati had finalised him as the chairman of the district Zakat committee. However, they later succumbed to pressure from JUIF MPA Sajadullah Baqi and appointed his brother.