PPP suspends party membership of Latif Khosa

LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has suspended the basic party membership of senior leader and former Governor Punjab Sardar Latif Khosa.

Secretary General Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari issued a notification suspending Khosa’s membership for his failure to reply to the show-cause notice issued against him for violating the party policy. The party has also suspended Khosa’s membership in the Central Executive Committee (CEC).

The move follows a show cause notice issued to Khosa by the PPP secretary general a week ago, which went unanswered, leading to the suspension of his membership. Additionally, Bukhari has instructed the PPP provincial presidents to provide their recommendations for candidates in the upcoming elections within 15 days.

Last week, the PPP issued a notice to Khosa for defending the head of another political party — the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) — without approval. It asked why action should not be taken against him.

“You being a member of Central Executive Committee of Pakistan [Peoples Party] are defending/ pleading/ representing a head of another political party without prior approval of leadership in corruption cases in which he has been convicted and in a case against him under official secret Act, while delivering a speech in lawyers function you criticized the state policy regarding cipher,” said the notice.

The notice also mentioned that the PPP leader criticized the state policy on the cypher issue during the event. It added that Khosa’s party membership would be terminated in case of no reply within the said time period.

The letter did not mention PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s name but said that Khosa — who is also a part of the former premier’s legal team — defended the head of another party.

The notice also directed him to respond to the notice within seven days. However, Khosa did not reply to the show-cause notice, eventually leading to his suspension.

Senior lawyer Khosa along with senior PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan has been at odds with their party leaders for defending the PTI chief’s stance on several political matters and legal cases.

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