PESHAWAR: Member of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Shazia Aurangzeb on Tuesday announced to resign from the basic membership of Pakistan Muslim Party-Nawaz and said she would soon join a political party, which gave the due respect and status to its workers.

Ms Shazia, the former Central General Secretary of PML-N Women Wing, told a news conference here that she had to quit the party because the leadership was not ready to heed her grievances.

She said all members of PML-N Women Wing from Hazara division had also resigned from the party’s basic membership, while women workers from Peshawar division would follow suit very soon.

“Leaders of several political parties, including Pakistan People’s Party, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf and Awami National Party, are in contact with me but I have yet not decided about my future line of action,” she said.

The lawmaker said she had had played a key role in strengthening PML-N Women Wing in all provinces, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, especially during the dictatorial regime of General Pervez Musharraf when the leadership was not allowed to return home from abroad.

She said the PML-N Women’s Wing under her supervision had played a pivotal role in highlighting the key national and international issues.

“I salute women workers, who supported me in difficult times,” she said.

Ms Shazia said there was no room in PML-N for committed workers and that she had to resign from the basic party membership to the hostile attitude of the central and provincial leadership.

She said the basic duty of the party leaders was to give respect to workers but it was ignored by most leaders forcing many to jump ship.

The lawmaker claimed that she had tried to efficiently handle organisational issues and challenges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but provincial President Pir Sabir Shah, General Secretary Rehmat Salam and Central General Secretary Iqbal Zafar Jhagra created hurdles to it.

“Despite these hurdles, I continued my efforts for organising the party in the province. However, I didn’t receive any positive gesture from the party central leadership,” she said.

She said she had gone all-out in resolving differences among party leaders and handling organisational mismanagement as part of preparations for the next elections.

Ms Shazia said PML-N, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa faced the worst kind of crisis in its history as old workers were not ready to accept newcomers on key positions.

She said some party workers didn’t want to see PML-N as a party of the people and wanted the status quo.

“A drawing room party can’t achieve its targets in the elections if the current bad things don’t change for the better,” she said.

The lawmaker said she would soon join a political party, where workers were given the due respect and status.

“I will take the decision very carefully,” she said.