PESHAWAR, May 2: The Jammat-i-Islami on Tuesday expelled its two MPAs, one of them a provincial minister, for violating the party discipline in Senate elections and submitted resignations on their behalf to the speaker According to the party’s three-member probe committee, Speaker Bakht Jehan Khan immediately accepted the resignations of provincial Minister for Sports Raja Faisal Zaman and MPA Malik Hayat Khan, and the assembly secretariat issued a notification declaring their seats vacant. Speaking at a joint press conference at the Peshawar Press Club, members of the committee, Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, Hakim Abdul Wahid and Dr Iqbal Khalil, said that both the MPAs had been found guilty of not voting in favour of the party candidates in Senate elections held on March 6.

However, MPA Malik Hayat Khan denied the charges and said that his resignation was a forgery and he would contest the party’s decision in court.

“The probe committee’s charges are baseless. I didn’t violate the party discipline. I will also bring the matter to the notice of Qazi Hussain Ahmad,” Mr Hayat told Dawn by phone from Upper Dir district.

“My family has been associated with JI since 1970. I can’t think of betraying the party,” he said. He denied the probe committee’s allegations that he had received Rs4.5 million from Senator Salim Saifullah Khan in the Senate polls.

“The JI leadership knows who sold vote in Senate polls. It is unfortunate that immature people are leading the party in the province,” he said.

“The MMA has made the vote conditional with talaq-i-mughaliza (three pronouncements in one sitting) and the members had sworn that they would divorce their wives thrice if they violated the party’s discipline,” he said.

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) has already expelled four lawmakers on same charges on March 25. Seats of two of those expelled MPAs, Ms Rukhsana Raz and Ms Yasmeen Khalid, had already been filled, while the high court stayed proceedings on the other two seats vacated by the expulsion of Maulana Dildar Ahmad and Gorsaran Lal.

Another committee member, Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, said that they had completed investigations in two months and they had found MPAs Malik Hayat Khan from PF-93 and Raja Faisal Zaman from PF-49 “guilty of selling their votes in the Senate election”.

“The party had submitted the MPAs’ resignations to the assembly speaker and he accepted it,” Mr Mushtaq said. He said that the committee would continue their investigations against other MPAs.