May 11, 2005	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 2, 1426

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ISLAMABAD, May 10: Sixteen town nazims from Karachi and other parts of Sindh here on Tuesday warned of mass mobilization against the provincial government if they were forced to resign before the forthcoming local bodies elections. Sardar Ghulam Mohammad Mustafakheli, the Taluqa Nazim of Umar Kot and President of Sindh Taluqa Nazimeen Alliance, told a press conference at the camp office of Rawalpindi/Islamabad Press Club that the alliance would never accept the appointment of administrators and care-takers in the local governments in place of nazims.

“There is no rule in the local government ordinance which requires the nazims to resign and hand over the local bodies’ affairs to administrators,” he maintained.

He said the nazims would hand over power only to the elected representatives of the people.

He asked the government to announce the schedule for the local bodies polls and hold elections under the army’s supervision to ensure transparency in the process.

The nazims alleged that Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim was harassing them and interfering in the affairs of the local governments. They said they had been implicated in ‘fake’ cases of corruption by the chief minister who wanted to see his own people come to power in the forthcoming elections.

They said the federal government should ensure that the provincial government withdrew ‘baseless’ cases against nazims.

They said the provincial government still owed to the local governments Rs8 billion in the general sales tax, Rs750 million in the property tax and Rs40 million in the entertainment tax.

They appealed to President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz and National Reconstruction Bureau Chairman Daniyal Aziz to save the devolution plan and put an end to the psychological war waged by the Sindh government against the representatives of the local government.