PESHAWAR: Governor rule urged before holding of LB polls
By Zulfiqar Ali
PESHAWAR, Dec 23: Members of the City District Council here on Thursday demanded of the federal government to impose Governor's rule in all provinces before the forthcoming local bodies elections to ensure transparency in the polls.
They also rejected appointments of administrators in districts across the country before the local bodies elections to ensure fairness in the electoral process. The council session was presided over by convener Dr Iqbal Khalil.
The demand appears to be in response to a proposal made by the NWFP government to replace Nazims with administrators ahead of the local bodies elections. NWFP Minister for Local Government Sardar Mohammad Idrees had earlier stated that the federal government should appoint administrators in all districts to supervise the next local bodies elections.
Initiating a debate on the issue, Nazims Israrullah Advocate and Riaz Baachaa said that they did not expect free and fair elections in the presence of the existing provincial setups.
Therefore, they demanded of the federal government to impose the governor's rule in the four provinces to hold local bodies elections in an impartial atmosphere. The Nazims also opposed proposed appointments of administrators in the districts and demanded that Nazims should remain in power till the next polls.
They pointed out that there was no provision in the Local Government Ordinance, 2001, allowing the appointments of the administrators. Other members of the council also supported the imposition of the governor's rule and opposed the appointments of administrators. They also demanded constitution of a committee headed by the city district Nazim Azam Afridi to take up this vital issue with the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB).
