A resignation unexpected?

The news was not unexpected. He had to leave the party. So he eventually did. Former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi bade farewell to the Pakistan People’s Party on Monday, ending an affiliation that spanned 18 years.

The reason the former foreign minister put was the alliance that the Pakistani People’s Party had struck with the Pakistan Muslim League-Q. That this alone could be the single biggest reason that factored into his resignation is something of an understatement.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who was initially a member of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz when he commenced his political career, joined the PPP in 1993. His father – makhdoom Sajjad Hussain Qureshi, remained the governor of Punjab in General Zia Ul Haq’s cabinet
as he had previously contested election on PPP’s ticket.  

When he joins any of the two parties on 27^th November – PML-N or Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf, it would be his fourth association with any party. There are speculations that suggest he might opt for the PTI since Imran Khan has been speaking high of
him lately.

A look at his political career brings to fore an interesting factuality. Rarely has Shah Mehmood Qureshi been without any ministerial responsibility in last two decades. He served as Provincial Minister of Finance Punjab from 1990-1993 and Minister of State
for Parliamentary Affairs from 1994-1996.

From 2008 to 2011, he served as the Pakistan’s Foreign Minister. However, the differences he developed with his party’s leadership in the wake of Raymond Davis affair increasingly sidelined him, and eventually took away the ministry as the government decided
to reduce the number of cabinet seats in February.

He was offered the post of minister for Water and Power which he refused to accept. Since then, Shah Mehmood Qureshi was barely seen on mainstream media apart from few reports that speculated about his possible decision to bid farewell to the party and joining
either PTI or PML-N.

Whichever party he joins now, it will certainly take him some time to adapt himself to the new environment. Compared to the strength of PPP, PTI would be too unattractive for him to offer anything as big as foreign ministry – that too when and if PTI wins
enough seats.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=3588

Posted by Sajjad Hussain on Nov 15 2011. Filed under Latest News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry