A week after sending him a show-cause notice for representing PTI chief Imran Khan in various court proceedings, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) terminated the membership of senior leader Advocate Latif Khosa on Friday in ISLAMABAD and LAHORE.
This happened when PPP Secretary-General Syed Nayyer Hussain Bukhari gave Khosa a show-cause notice last week, and Khosa did not react.
A former member of the PPP’s CEC, Advocate Khosa was reprimanded for representing the president of an opposing political party in several legal proceedings.
Let it be, the seasoned politician said, if the removal of himself will placate some groups.
Khosa told The Express Tribune that the show-cause notice and suspension were baseless.
They don’t seem to be familiar with the ECP-submitted party law basics. Any member who disobeys a party command is subject to suspension. I haven’t done anything illegal, so the party’s whole exercise is a farce from a legal standpoint.
It was his opinion that “let them have their way” if they favoured power politics over people’s politics.
What they have to say doesn’t bother me. Khosa said, “It’s unfortunate that party is trying to intervene in my personal space, but no one can take away my right to take on a client of my choosing.”
So be it if they have strayed from the policies of late Benazir Bhutto and the manifesto of late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. When these kids were born, I was there,” he continued, referring to Bilawal and his sisters.
Khosa responded that the show-cause and ban meant nothing to him, prompting the issue of whether he would appeal the judgement. He went on to say that the directive to suspend his membership was invalid and unconstitutional.
A member of the Central Executive Committee was given a show-cause notice for “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 Secrets Act,” as well as “criticising the state policy regarding cypher” in a speech given at a lawyers’ function.
Khosa was given seven days to respond, with the caveat that failure to do so would result in disciplinary action. The PPP’s social media X handle wrote on Friday that
Khosa’s membership was revoked at that point.
Khosa is a senior and famous lawyer, but his recent criticism of the establishment has caused friction within his party. In addition to the Toshakhana case, Latif was handling numerous others for PTI leader Imran Khan.
