09-09-2010, 10:41 AM
LAHORE: The leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has replaced the party president of its Lahore chapter, Chaudhry Asghar Gujjar, with Samina Khalid Ghurki, a federal minister elected from the local constituency NA-130, on Wednesday. According to PPP sources, the party leadership has issued notification regarding the replacement of the Lahore chapter president with immediate effect and nominated a key member of the Ghurki family, Samina Khalid, as the new president. The Ghurki family is a well-known family in Lahore and its suburb areas due to its welfare and political work for the masses as well as the PPP. The sources said that Asghar was facing stiff criticism from different circles for using harsh words about their party’s rivals after the attack on the Data Darbar, adding that voices were raised to replace him before the party’s high command acted on the matter. “Another reason for the move was that the party wanted a person at the party’s Lahore chapter helm who was influential and effective enough to disrupt the PML-N’s hold in the city,” the sources said. Samina Khalid Ghurki is currently the federal social welfare and special education minister. She was re-elected as a member of the National Assembly from her native seat in the city, NA-130, in the 2008 elections. She obtained 45,000 votes against her opponents who belonged to the PML-N and PML-Q. She also represents her party in the Standing Committee of Local Government Affairs as well as the Standing Committee on Welfare and Special Education. She completed her bachelor studies from the Lahore College for Women in 1976. She is active in community welfare and social work in her constituency and her family funds the Ghurki Trust Teaching Hospital. staff report