August 14, 2003	Thursday	Jumadi-us-Sani 15, 1424

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

MINGORA, Aug 13: Swat Qaumi Ittehad (SQI) has announced that Arshad Khan of the Awami National Party (ANP) and Malik Barkat Ali of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) will contest by-polls for the slots of Nazim and Naib Nazim respectively on Sep 8.

The SQI, comprising the ANP, the JI, the PTI, the PML-N, the PPP (Sherpao) and the councillors alliance held a joint meeting at the JI office here on Tuesday. Names of the two candidates were approved in the meeting.

Those who attended the meeting included MNA Fazal Subhan, Dr Anwarul Haq, Akhtar Ali Khan of JI, Dr Shamsher Ali Khan, Wajid Ali Khan, Haider Ali Khan, Mohammad Ayub Khan of the ANP, Sher Afgan Kaka, Fayaz Khan of the PTI, Qavi Khan and Zafar Ali Khan of the PML-N, Hazrat Bilal and Mohammad Wakil of councillors’ alliance.

LB POLLS SCHEDULE: National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) Chairman Danyal Aziz has said that the schedule for holding local bodies polls in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) will be issued in Oct as the government has made a final decision to bring about reforms in the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) in Fata.

Mr Aziz was talking to journalists from the tribal agencies who called on him at his office in Islamabad on Monday.

He said the NRB had sent a package of draft reforms to the president and the NWFP governor for approval. The government had begun taking steps to extend power devolution plan to Fata and bring about reforms in the FCR.

The NRB chairman said that privileged classes were against reforms but the government was convinced that benefits of the power devolution plan should reach the tribal people as well.

He said that the government had also prepared a schedule of holding local bodies polls in Fata in Oct.