ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) has expelled its secretary general Zahid Mehmood Qasmi, who briefly took over the reins of the party from its chairman Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi, according to sources.

They said that after regaining control of the party Mr Ashrafi had a legal notice served on Mr Qasmi.

Mr Qasmi had on Feb 28 accused Mr Ashrafi of taking illegal donations from donors abroad and announced that he had taken over the party`s chairmanship from Mr Ashrafi.

The legal notice, forwarded to Mr Qasmi by the PUC`s vice chairman, Ayub Saf dar, said that by levelling defamatory allegations at Mr Ashrafi the former secretary general of the party had tarnished the image of the party as well as its chairman.The notice asked Mr Qasmi to tender an apology and also asked him to pay Rs500 million as compensation to Hafiz Ashrafi within 15 days. `Otherwise, an FIR would be lodged for defamation and misusing the registered name of the PUC,` it added.

Mr Ashrafi had announced on March 8 that a show cause notice had been served on Mr Q asmi, asking the latter to respond to allegations against him within a month.

`The main allegation against Mr Qasmi was that he had links with extremists and members of banned groups, and even Punjab`s Counter-Terrorism Department had complained that he used to forcibly take donations and take over mosques of other groups in Faisalabad,` Mr Ashrafi told Dawn.

`Because he did not respond to the notice, the central committee of the PUC decided to expel Mr Qasmi from the party and serve a legal notice on him,` he added.