PESHAWAR, Sept 10: A large number of union council Nazims from different districts of the NWFP have handed over their collective resignations to the chairman of the newly-formed union council alliance here on Wednesday.

Around 150 union council Nazims from 18 districts here at a convention adopted a unanimous resolution demanding of President Gen Pervez Musharraf and the National Reconstruction Bureau chairman to repeal sections 84 and 85 from the Local Government Ordinance 2001 which deal with the removal of union council Nazims.

Ibadatullah Khalil, the alliance chairman, said that 80 per cent union council Nazims from across the province had handed over their resignations to him which would be sent to President Gen Pervez Musharraf at an appropriate time.

The alliance chief, however, did not show the exact number of UC Nazims who had handed him their resignations.

“I expect more resignations within the next few days,” Mr Khalil said and went on to claim that union council Nazims from 18 districts came in droves to the convention. Councillors from far-flung districts could not attend the convention for one reason or the other, he added.

Without mentioning the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government by name he alleged that some elements used councillors for their vested interest and instigated them to table no-confidence motions against UC Nazims.

He said the no-trust motions against union council Nazims had affected the development activities in all the districts of the province. He said that all the UC Nazims who had been removed under section 85 of LGO-2001 should be restored.

Earlier, union council Nazims accused the NRB and MMA government of undermining the local government system in the province and proposed to file a petition in the Peshawar High Court for amending the controversial sections of the LGO-2001.

Union council Nazim Swabi Haji Bakhtiar said: “The local government system is about to collapse.” He sought President Musharraf’s intervention to save the system. He termed sections 84 and 85 of LGO-2001 “unconstitutional” and “unlawful”.

UC Nazim Karak Engineer Omar Khitab accused the MMA government of derailing the devolution plan and alleged that the provincial government had stopped funds for development schemes to the district governments.

UC Nazim Karak Saadullah Khan held the bureaucracy responsible for their agonies and said the provincial government had frozen the annual development funds worth Rs17 million on account of power dues. He said the UC offices were running short of basic facilities.

The convention asked the provincial government to pay Rs1,000 honorarium to 24 UC Nazims of Shangla, and clear their telephone dues.

Many Nazims complained that President Gen Musharraf was making the LGO-2001 a scapegoat for striking an underhand deal with the MMA.

The convention elected UC Nazim Peshawar Ibadatullah Khalil as chairman and Syed Zulfiqar Baacha as general secretary of the alliance for two years.