13 September 2004	Monday	27 Rajab 1425

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LANDI KOTAL, Sept 12: The Zwan Pukhtoon Gwand, a political organisation in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency, rejected on Sunday the creation of proposed non-elected agency councils in tribal areas.

Addressing his organization workers, chairman of Zwan Pukhtoon Gwand Ikramullah Kukikhel lamented that both the president of Pakistan and governor of NWFP had failed to fulfil their promise of holding local bodies' elections in Fata.

Mr Kukikhel said that his organization wholeheartedly supported President Pervez Musharraf during his referendum with the hope that he would introduce reforms in tribal areas.

However, to the dismay of the majority of tribal people, the local bodies elections were delayed under pressure from so-called tribal elders and bureaucracy, he alleged.

Ikramullah Kukikhel accused political administration and their 'blue-eyed Maliks' of misappropriating development funds meant for the uplift of tribal areas. He said that the creation of non-elected agency councils was a continuation of the old system.

He said that the political administration wanted to induct their favoured elders in the councils which, he insisted, could never be true representatives of tribal people. The tribal Maliks would now pocket development funds in their capacity as councillors in connivance with political administration, he alleged.

The ZPG chairman demanded that President Pervez Musharraf and NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah immediately repeal the system of agency councils and instead announce dates for holding local bodies elections in all the seven tribal agencies.