LAHORE, Aug 22: The Democratic Group of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Pakistan People’s Party and the Jama’at-i-Islami has nominated Khwaja Salman Rafiq of the PML-N and Chaudhry Sarfraz of the JI as its candidates for Ravi Town Nazim and Naib Nazim elections and MPA Chaudhry Shafqat as election coordinator.

The district leaders of the three parties — Pervaiz Malik (PML-N), Misbahur Rehman (PPP), Ehsanullah Waqas (JI) — announced the revival of the Democratic Group and nomination of the joint candidates for Ravi Town elections at a joint press conference here on Friday.

They said the late Aftab Asghar Dar and Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman had won the Ravi Town Nazim and Naib Nazim election in 2001 as Democratic candidates. The revival of the group had been felt necessary to counter the undemocratic tactics being used by the provincial and district governments to coerce the councillors to vote in favour of the official candidates.

They said the rulers were trying to destroy their own district government system by using negative tactics to remove Data Ganj Bakhsh Town Nazim Khwaja Hassaan despite the fact that the town had been declared exemplary. They said Khwaja Hassaan was being victimized because he had refused to join the PML-Q.

They said District Nazim Mian Amer, who had been thrust on the city district by committing irregularities, had violated the devolution plan by not devolving sanitation and education to the town level, and had imposed sanitation fee and road-user charge on Lahorites without improving the sanitation or the roads.

Salman Rafiq and Sarfraz thanked the Democratic Alliance for nominating them as its candidates. They said the alliance enjoyed the support of the majority of Ravi Town councillors because the city district government had not done anything for the uplift of the town. Some of the union councils did not have even a single school.

They said 351 Ravi Town councillors had voted for the late Aftab Asghar Dar out of a total 630. The number had now reduced to 605 as 25 seats had fallen vacant.