October 17, 2003	Friday	Sha'aban 20, 1424

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

ISLAMABAD, Oct 16: Chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party Benazir Bhutto has asked deputy information secretary of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy Munir Ahmed Khan to continue to work on his post in the larger interest of the alliance and the party, sources told Dawn on Thursday.

According to the sources, Mr Khan, who handed over his resignation to ARD chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim in Lahore on Tuesday, had already sent his resignation to the PPP chairperson.

He said Benazir Bhutto had sent an email to Mr Khan on October 13 asking him not to resign.

“Unless Makhdoom Amin Fahim has asked you to do this, or we have lost the position in the reshuffle, I would advise against the resignation”, Ms Bhutto said in her message.

Lauding the services of Munir Ahmed Khan, Ms Bhutto said: “The ARD needs to have active workers who follow up with solid work like the release you issued on the fourth anniversary of the Musharraf coup detat.”

In her message, the PPP chairperson also eulogized the services of late Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan for the cause of democracy and termed his death a big loss to the democratic movement as well as to the alliance.

Ms Bhutto said she was glad that they had managed to have the succession pass on smoothly which was also a tribute to Nawabzada Sahib.

It may be mentioned here that Mr Khan had accompanied Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan to London and Jeddah where the late ARD chief had held talks with former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif only a few days before his death.

When contacted, Mr Khan told Dawn by telephone that he had not quit the alliance office due to differences with the new leadership. “In fact, I had sent my resignation to Benazir Bhutto on October 5, much before the election of Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Makhdoom Javed Hashmi as chairman and president of the alliance,” he said.