ISLAMABAD, Oct 1: Murree hotels are witnessing an unusual rush despite it being an off season these days and are packed to capacity with hundreds of newly-elected councillors, nazims and naib nazims rounded up from various parts of Punjab and brought to the hill station by government functionaries in an attempt to buy their loyalties in favour of ruling-party candidates.

A visit to various hotels in Murree showed that almost all their rooms were full of union council nazims, naib nazims and councillors who had been brought to the ‘queen of mountains’ from various parts of the Punjab province, including Multan, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Vehari.

A union council Nazim from Multan staying in a hotel room when contacted, said that over 150 councillors had been brought here by the government only for “recreational purposes.”

Replying to a question, he said, that he belonged to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q. He denied that they had been forcibly brought to Murree. “We were given an offer by our candidate for the post of town nazim for a recreational trip to Murree, and we accepted it,” he said.

Another union council nazim from Multan claimed that a large number of elected councillors had also been lodged in some hotels in Islamabad. He said that they had already visited other sight- seeing places in the outskirts of Murree, like Ayubia and Nathiagali. He said in the next two to three days, they would be visiting Patriata and Bhurban.

His reply was in affirmative when asked whether some councillors belonging to the opposition parties had also been brought to Murree. He said that they had been told to stay in Murree till Tuesday evening and they would be taken back to their respective cities only one day before the polling on October 6.

Interviews with several hotel managers and staffers revealed that 15 to 25 rooms had been booked in each hotel. They even claimed that some women members had also been brought to the hill station.

Meanwhile, a candidate for Murree Town Nazim Sardar Masood Ahmed Akash told Dawn that the elected councillors and nazims belonging to Murree had been shifted to Swat in the same manner. Mr Akash, who is contesting the election against two local stalwarts of the ruling PML-Q, said that “councillors and elected UC nazims are being sold and purchased like animals”.

Mr Akash said that the way the government was taking interest in the local polls showed that it had some secret plans and there was a possibility that through these elected local representatives, the parliamentary system was about to be wrapped up.

MNA Maimoona Hashmi, daughter of the jailed ARD president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, when contacted, alleged that a government- supported candidate Mian Jameel had kept over 100 coucillors “hostage” in the Murree hotels.

When contacted for comments, secretary general of the ruling PML Senator Mushahid Hussain expressed his surprise over such reports. He, however, said that shifting of the councillors to Murree and other hill stations had nothing to do with the party policy. “These are the acts, being committed by individuals,” he said.

When his attention was drawn towards the fact that this was perhaps for the first time in the history that such incidents were being reported at the councillors’ level and earlier only MNAs and MPAs were subjected to such type of activities, he said jokingly, “If these reports are true then it is good that the councillors have been upgraded to the level of MNAs and MPAs and we can say now that democracy has reached to the grassroots level.”