September 3, 2002	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Saani24,1423

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 2: The local government elections in the capital will be held by the end of October.

This was decided in a high-level meeting, presided over by President Gen Pervez Musharraf, here on Monday. The meeting was also attended by the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) chairman, Lt-Gen Tanvir Naqvi (retired).

The interior secretary gave a presentation on the future shape of the local government and the mode of elections.

The meeting decided that the offices of the chief commissioner, deputy commissioner and the executive magistrate would cease to exist after the setting up of the local government.

The capital district Nazim will supervise all the line departments of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

However, the CDA, the CDA board and the office of the authority’s chairman will continue in the present form and under existing laws.

A Federal Capital Commission will be set up under the minister for interior, comprising five nominated members, for conflict resolution of the local bodies and supervision of all matters pertaining to Islamabad, the meeting decided.

It also decided that the development and the municipal responsibility of the Capital Development Authority would also be extended to the rural areas of the ICT.—APP

Our Reporter adds: Earlier, the elections were scheduled for August, but later postponed, and the decision to form the local bodies set up in the capital was left to the government which would be elected in the October polls.

According to sources, the government took this decision because the Election Commission would be busy in the preparation of the October general elections. Therefore, it would not be possible for the commission to conduct local government elections in Islamabad, they added.

The draft law for holding the local government elections in the capital was prepared by the NRB, but it was not promulgated due to objections raised by the interior ministry on certain provisions.

The National Reconstruction Bureau had recommended that the CDA should be abolished in the new local government set up.

However, a high-level meeting on July 8 decided to continue with the CDA in the new set up. But, all its directorates that are providing municipal services to the capital will be transferred to the district government.

The meeting was attended by senior officials of National Reconstruction Bureau and interior ministry including NRB’s chairman Lt-Gen Tanvir Naqvi (retired) and Interior Minister Lt-Gen Moinuddin Haider (retired).

It decided to curtail the powers of Islamabad district Nazim in the devolution plan, only giving him the authority to deal with the affairs of municipal services.

The district Nazim would only look after the matters related to municipal services like provision of water, sanitation, environment, street-lights and petty development work. On the other hand, the CDA will deal with matters related to land disposal and revenue generation.

The meeting decided that there would be two separate administrations in Islamabad, the Capital Development Authority and the district government. It also decided not to dissolve the CDA board, but expand it by inducting three elected members, increasing its strength to eight.

According to a source, there were some differences between the National Reconstruction Bureau and interior ministry on the model of the local government system for Islamabad, but these reservations had been settled amicably.