Illegal plaza may cost PML-Q Lahore president his job

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

* Party unhappy with Yousaf Ahad Malik’s failure to put local affairs in order
* Malik ‘preoccupied with saving Ahad Tower from demolition’

By Hussain Kashif

LAHORE: The city may see a shake up in the local leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), as the party is considering replacing the president of their Lahore chapter, Daily Times has learnt.

According to party sources, the party nominated Yousaf Ahad Malik as PML-Q Lahore president to reorganise the party’s city infrastructure within a month. But Malik failed to achieve those goals in over two months.

Sources said the PML-Q high command believe that Malik, instead of reorganising the party during this time, focussed all his energy towards protecting Ahad Tower – a plaza he owns, situated near Kalma Chowk – from demolition. The Punjab government had declared the structure as being illegally constructed and scheduled it for demolition.

Some party leaders expressed concerns that Malik’s ownership of the ‘illegal plaza’ might damage the party’s credibility – since it was built at the time the PML-Q was in power. When asked about the issue, Malik said the Lahore Development Authority was proceeding to demolish the top five storeys of Ahad Tower because they were “irregular constructions”. “This is nothing but political victimisation,” he said.

Sources said the deadline to reorganise party structure had long passed and not even a single office-bearer had been nominated during the given period.

There was some resentment in the party over Malik’s nomination in the first place, because he always appeared alone at party events. The PML-Q Lahore president never managed to bring any political workers along at any demonstrations or public meeting in the last two months, they added.

Malik, on the other hand, denies these reports, saying the PML-Q leadership has complete confidence in him and that there is no question of any deadlines being set to reorganise things. “No party can establish itself within a matter of days, so the reorganisation process will take some time,” he added.