RAWALPINDI: The no-confidence motion against Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) Vice President Raja Jahandad Khan, which was submitted by 11 elected members of the board, was accepted and voting on the move will be held next Monday.

“The formal request by 11 members of the cantonment board was submitted with Station Commander Brigadier Hassan Raza, who is president of the Rawalpindi and Chaklala Cantonment Board Monday morning and he accepted it for voting,” said RCB spokesperson Qaiser Mehmood.

He said the station commander will call a special meeting of the board next week where elected members will vote against or in favour of the elected vice president.

A year after the RCB elections, 11 members belonging to the PML-N had decided last Friday to sign a no-confidence motion against the RCB vice president.

Members will now vote on the motion, which opposition politicians have termed a ‘drama’

After the meeting at which the motion was signed, a member of the board, Malik Munir had told Dawn that the vice president had created a bad working environment for party members and the elected members of the cantonment board.

“Instead of solving residents’ problems, Raja Jehandad Khan would create a fuss and portray a bad image of the party,” he had said. Another member of the board, Hafiz Hussein Ahmed had told Dawn that the differences between the members and the vice president had been increasing and that the members had decided to replace him as he had not delivered in a year.

Talking to Dawn, Raja Jehandad Khan said: “I am not afraid of a no-confidence motion because I have not made any money from the civic body and my political career has been clean. The members tabled the motion without consulting the party. However, the decision of the party’s leadership will soon turn the tables.”

He said that according to the Political Parties Act, the party leader makes the final decision and issues party policy in matters regarding civic bodies, national and provincial assemblies.

“Party members who do not accept the party’s decision lose their seat,” he said.

On the other hand, a senior PML-N leader told Dawn that the final decision to replace the RCB vice president will be made after a meeting between Senator Chaudhry Tanveer Khan and MNA Malik Abrar.

“Raja Jehandad met with Senator Tanveer in which he was assured that the party was not going to replace him. The matter was also brought into the notice of the interior minister,” he said.

He added that though 11 members had signed the motion, three or four still supported the RCB vice president.

“The votes of eight members are required for a no-confidence motion to pass through,” he said.

The politician said that Malik Usman from Ward 2 , Mohammad Shafique from Ward 3, Yousuf Gul who is a minority member and Arshad Qureshi from Ward 8 had assured Raja Jehandad Khan that they will vote against the motion.

The two members who had initiated the move, Haji Zafar Iqbal and Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, are also contenders for the seat of RCB vice president if the motion is approved, he said.

He added that both these members were new in the party and had been raising quite a commotion. Two other members, Malik Sajid and Malik Munir, are also vying for the seat of vice president and are supported by MNA Malik Abrar.

The no-confidence motion has exposed differences in the ruling party, which won the cantonment board election in April 2015.

Spokesperson for the PPP Rawalpindi chapter Shujat Haider Naqvi said that instead of working on solving the problems of the residents, PML-N workers were fighting over the seat of vice president for a year.

“People were starting to protest against the shortage of water, increase in property tax and the lack of civic facilities, but the ruling party has staged this drama in order to divert the attention of the people,” he said,

PTI leader Zahid Kazmi also said the no-confidence motion was a ‘drama’.

“PML-N has not done anything for the people this past year and has now creates this drama,” he said.

People have problems with everything including getting birth and death certificates, getting a water connection and correct tax assessments and the elected representatives are not in their offices, Mr Kazmi said.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2016