Pak minister Rehman's resignation drama refuses to die down

Lahore, Mar 16 (ANI): The drama behind the resignation of Information Minister Sherry Rehman is not going to die down easily, as there are very few takers for the explanation given by Pakistan People's Party stalwarts about the circumstances leading to her exit from the office.

PPP MNA Fouzia Wahab on Sunday narrated her own version of the story. Talking to a news channel on Sunday, she stated that Rehman had resigned two weeks ago, but no formal announcement was made at that time.

She was actually trying to convince people that Sherry's resignation had nothing to do with the partial closure of Geo TV news channel and the volley of criticism she faced by close aides of President Asif Ali Zardari on the day she decided to quit as Information Minister.

The Nation quotes Punjab Governor Salman Taseer as saying that the issue of performance might be the reason behind her resignation.

As a matter of fact, it was her soft handling of the media which was made a subject of severe criticism by people like Rehman Malik and others, and which eventually led to her resignation.

Taseer, Rehman Malik, Zardari's close aide Dr Qayyum Soomro were present in the meeting at Presidency during which Sherry announced her decision to resign in protest.

Initially, no one believed that she was actually going to resign. It was only after she submitted a written resignation to Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani that people came to believe the seriousness of her determination.

Since the PPP took power, Sherry had been constantly blamed for giving free hand to the media, especially to news channels and for not applying coercive PEMRA laws in letter and spirit.

She also resisted moves to bring PEMRA under the Ministry of Interior as proposed by Rehman Malik.

Attempts were also made in the past to get rid of her, but she survived all these onslaughts. This was not the case now, as she herself decided to resign. (ANI)