12 September 2004	Sunday	26 Rajab 1425

LAHORE, Sept 11: The Tehrik-i-Istaqlal has urged Gen Pervez Musharraf not to hold local council polls on party basis fearing that the step may spoil what has so far been gained through devolution of power during the last four years.

The party wrote to the army ruler a week ago warning that the government will be unable to control the chaos to be caused by party-based polls.

The people elected on party basis will create a mess of the new system due to their political considerations, fears TI president Rehmat Khan Vardag, adding that they will take more interest in advancing agenda of their parties than focusing on problems of the masses.

Nazims elected on party basis will hesitate to allocate funds to opposition party councillors, sharpening the political divide at the local level and resulting in uneven development of various areas of a union, tehsil or district council.

He rejected the recent election of Lahore district Nazim Mian Aamir Mahmood as vice-president of the Punjab PML.

The party is planning to take the demand for non-party local polls to the masses soon after the Kalabagh Dam issue is settled.

It seeks post-graduation as criteria for district Nazim, graduation for tehsil Nazim and matric for city councillor to improve the working and control of the councils.