29 January 2005	Saturday	18 Zilhaj 1425

PESHAWAR, Jan 28: Nazims from all districts, town and tehsil councils of NWFP on Friday announced to set up a protest camp in front of the President's House in Islamabad on February 4 against the proposed appointment of administrators for conducting local body elections.

Nazims hailing from various districts, towns and tehsils, who held a joint press conference here at the Peshawar Press Club, rejected any amendment to the Local Government Ordinance, 2001.

They asked President Gen Pervez Musharraf to protect the local government system. Speaking at the press conference, convener of nazims alliance, Pervez Khattak vowed that they would not end their protest until the president gave them firm assurance regarding the proposed appointment of administrators before the local body polls.

He urged representatives of the district governments in other three provinces to join the protest movement and gather in Islamabad on February 4 at 10am. The district and tehsil Nazims from the NWFP would be meeting the chairman of National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB), Danyal Aziz, in Islamabad on Saturday to discuss the situation, he added.

"Some elements are pressurising the president to appoint administrators for conducting local body elections and bring certain amendments to the ordinance," Mr Khattak said.

"We will not transfer power to the bureaucracy," he said. Responding to a question he said that they would take the matter to courts if administrators were appointed.

City District Nazim, Azam Afridi, said that the bureaucracy was hatching a conspiracy to snatch power from the people's representatives and restore the previous system which what he described was based on exploitation. "We will never accept appointment of administrators," Mr Afridi said.