ISLAMABAD, June 6: Lauding the services of Fauzia Kausari, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday issued ‘factual clarification’ regarding her resignation.
The official statement released by the party said: “PTI paid the highest regard for her work for the party and feels it is the right of every individual to decide whether he/she can continue working for the ideology of PTI or not.”
However, the statement said that it was the right of PTI to clarify some erroneous statements made by Ms Kasuri.
The spokesman of the party said that it was only after the election results came out that Ms Kasuri started her campaign of maligning the party and the women selected by the leadership for the reserved seats.
Despite this, the Party leadership took a lenient view and refused to take action against her by issuing a show-cause notice.
The spokesman of the party has also criticised Ms Kausari for playing double with another party while being an office bearer of the PTI.
“On the day of her resignation she spoke to the Chairman PTI and expressed interest in contesting election on NA-48 but the chairman made no commitment,” the statement released by PTI said.
“However, the chairman’s sister personally visited her on her own as they were old friends, to try and keep her within the party on grounds of ideology, but it was only later that the revelation was made about her already having had meetings with the women of the Sharif family.”
The spokesman of the party also denied that she was one of the founding members of PTI.
The statement said in fact they are Imran Khan, Naeemul Haque, Ahsan Rasheed, Hafeez Khan (now in Canada), Mowahid Hussain Syed (now in US), Mahmood Awan (now in US), Nausherwan Burki (now in US), who founded the Party in April 1996.
The PTI said that Ms Kasuri was disqualified from contesting the intra-party elections because she had not even begun the process of surrendering her US nationality at the time of the elections, which were held on March 21, 2013, while she went to the US Consulate Lahore to begin the process of citizenship renunciation on March 22, 2013.
Regarding her allegation of not accommodating her in the list of reserved seat in National Assembly for women, the spokesman said the list was finalised by March 31, 2013 and she was informed that she was at number 4 in the Punjab List.
“She not only accepted the order but took part in the election jalsas and other activities,” PTI has said.
“The expectation was that PTI would win enough NA seats in Punjab to accommodate a number of women on the priority list.”
Ms Kasuri also hurled allegations of financial misconduct by some senior and founding members of the Party. These are absolutely male fide allegations. All PTI funds are audited by one of the top chartered accountancy firms in the country.
The statement concluded saying that it would have been better had she not hurled baseless allegations, while concealing the real facts about her intra party disqualification and placement on the women reserved priority list. —A Reporter
