PESHAWAR: Provincial president of People’s Youth Organisation Malik Amjad and secretary information Hanif Khan have refused to accept the orders of their removal issued by the Pakistan People’s Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

According to PPP provincial general secretary Faisal Karim Kundi, the two office-bearers had been removed on the directives of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as they had crossed the age limit of 35 years for the posts.

He said the decision to remove them had been taken by the central leadership after scrutiny of age limits of the office-bearers. He said the vacant seats would be filled in by the provincial leadership in consultation with the top leaders.

A source on Monday revealed that following complaints of the PYO workers on social media the central general secretary Nayar Hussain Bukhari had called Malik Amjad and Hanif Khan to Zardari House Islamabad where he checked their CNIC to judge their exact age.

They were removed from the PYO offices after consultations to implement Mr Bilawal’s decision.

However, Malik Amjad told Dawn that the he was still president of PYO because the workers across the province were not ready to accept any change in the provincial cabinet of the youth organisation. “The decision holds no weight as PYO leaders in other provinces are above the age of 40 and they are still holding the offices,” he argued.

Mr Amjad said some elements in the party were against him and were creating misunderstandings about him, fearing the PYO and PPP would suffer if top leadership failed to take immediate steps in that regard.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2018