KARACHI, June 21: The Tehrik-i-Istiqlal (TI) on Tuesday demanded President Pervez Musharraf to form a national government and hold the forthcoming local bodies’ polls under its supervision in a free and fair manner, so as to avoid any expected bloodshed. Speaking at a press conference, the TI President, Rehmat Khan Wardag, said that keeping in view the current political situation of Sindh, it was very likely that the law and order situation would get aggravated and opposition parties would not accept results of the coming LB polls.

“Therefore, steps should be taken to ensure that elections are held fair and transparent, and the law and order situation is satisfactory, so that poll results are acceptable to all political groups,” he added.

Similarly, the national government should also conduct impartial accountability of all corrupt people since the masses were not satisfied with the present accountability system, he said.

Criticising the recent amendments made in the local government ordinance regarding giving powers to the chief minister to sack nazims, he said that with it a chief minister could dismiss elected nazims belonging to the opposition by levelling any charges against them.

The decision, he demanded, should be withdrawn and the earlier clause be restored according to which a nazim could be sacked only through a no-confidence motion.

He further demanded the government to give the Hyderabad and Sukkur districts the status of city district governments.

Expressing satisfaction over the latest developments in the Pak-India peace process, he advised the government to hold tripartite talks and seek a solution to the Kashmir issue acceptable to all parties to the dispute. —PPI