Succumbing to pressure by her party leadership, Pakistan People’s Party MNA and member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Yasmin Rahman on Thursday retracted an earlier statement voicing support to the PAC chairman and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nisar Ali Khan.
“I strongly contradict the remarks attributed to me that I and all other members of the PAC will also quit if the chairman of the PAC, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, resigns from his position,” she told Pakistan Today. On Wednesday, the top PPP leadership snubbed Yasmin for her alleged assurance of tendering resignation from the membership of the PAC. A source told Pakistan Today that Yasmin was told that she was free to resign but she would be left alone if she did so.
The source said the party leadership took notice of the statement and warned her against making remarks against party interest and in violation of the party discipline without seeking guidelines from the party.
Yasmin has been a controversial figure in the PPP for years and the party leaders have been pointing fingers at her close relatives who have maintained relations with the PML-N leadership.
One of her brother, Justice (r) Malik Mohammad Qayyum had been found involved in a scam after he, as LHC judge, had convicted PPP leader Benazir Bhutto and her spouse Asif Ali Zardari in a corruption case. Malik Parvaiz, another of Yasmin’s brother, is a sitting MNA of PML-N from Lahore.
“Irrespective of the political affiliations of my relatives, let me tell you that I have an affiliation with the PPP for almost two and a half decades,” Yasmin said. She said she strictly followed the party’s policy and had never made such a remark which was attributed to her by a section of the press. “The remarks attributed to me are baseless and incorrect and are vehemently denied,” she said.
Meanwhile, a statement was also issued by presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar on behalf of Yasmin Rehman, quoting her denial about her statement, adding that the PPP would decide on the course of action in case Nisar resigned from the chairmanship of the PAC and all PPP members, including her, were bound to follow the party policy. “As far as non-PPP members of the PAC are concerned, I cannot speak on their behalf,” the statement quoted her as saying.
“As a member of the PPP and having been elected to the National Assembly on the party ticket, I will follow the party decision and there is no question of disregarding it or acting in any manner that is not consistent with the policy,” the statement quoted the PPP MNA.
