Pakistan’s IT industry association P@SHA is facing a growing leadership crisis after eight of its 11 Central Executive Committee (CEC) members voted no confidence in Chairman Sajjad Syed.

The vote took place during an extraordinary meeting, according to the meeting minutes.

The CEC had previously tried to work with the chairman but raised concerns that he was taking actions on behalf of P@SHA without keeping the board informed. The minutes said similar concerns had been raised earlier as well.

The dispute has also reached the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), which issued notices to several CEC members and P@SHA secretariat staff after Sajjad Syed filed a petition over the alleged leak of confidential data and videos.

One of the videos reportedly shows the chairman verbally resigning during a board meeting. The board accepted the resignation and asked the Senior Vice Chairman to take additional charge.

However, the Director General of Trade Organizations later reinstated Sajjad Syed, stating that no written resignation had been submitted. The DGTO also ordered an inquiry to verify the reported resignation.

Sajjad Syed subsequently challenged the no-confidence process on procedural grounds. He argued that the move could conflict with an existing DGTO order and that the motion was not handled according to P@SHA’s rules.

He therefore maintained that the no-confidence vote had no legal effect until these issues were resolved.

The CEC decided that P@SHA’s Secretary General would determine whether its decision conflicted with the DGTO’s interim order. If no conflict was found, the Secretary General would implement the CEC decision.

The leadership dispute comes ahead of P@SHA’s elections and flagship awards scheduled for next month, raising the possibility of delays if the conflict remains unresolved.