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| October 8, 2005 | Saturday | Ramazan 3, 1426 |
Most new nazims belong to non-MMA parties
PESHAWAR, Oct 7: Official circles here are sceptical about the working relationship between the newly elected district governments and the MMA-led NWFP government as majority of new nazims were elected with the support of liberal political forces in the 24 districts of the province.
The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) and the Jamaat-i-Islami, two main components of the six-party MMA, have won district nazim polls in six districts. The JUI-F backed candidates got through in Bannu, Battagram, Kohistan and Peshawar districts, whereas the JI has to its claim the district nazim posts in Dir Upper and Chitral districts. In Dir Lower, its candidate, Mohammed Rasool Khan, and his opponent Ahmed Hassan Khan of the PPP, who had the support of ANP and other political groups of the area, bagged equal number of votes, ending the race in a tie.
Differences between the JUI-F and JI had left the provincial government in quandary as for the rest of its term in office it would have to work with 17 district governments headed by men associated with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), People’s Party Parliamentarians and Pakistan People’s Party (Sherpao).
Though the two religio-political parties have improved their presence in the newly-formed district governments by winning district nazim polls in six districts against two in the last local body polls, political observers believe that differences within JUI-F and JI ranks had exposed the MMA to a difficult challenge in the NWFP.
“The MMA would need some remedial measures to put its house in order where one of the JI leaders has levelled corruption charges against Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani,” said an observer.
Senator Prof Mohammed Ibrahim, vice-president of the JI for the NWFP, has accused the chief minister of rigging the nazim polls in Bannu district.
Mr Ibrahim lost to Mr Durrani’s cousin Azam Khan who got elected as nazim of Bannu district.
Official circles apprehended that results of the district nazim polls had a potential to create disharmony among the provincial government and out-fits in districts headed by men belonging to parties opposing the MMA.
“The situation is ripe to repeat the past when several of the district governments were not enjoying cordial relations with the provincial government led by MMA,” apprehended an official.
The new district governments headed by men affiliated with the PML and PPP (Sherpao) are expected to be lacking cordial relations because of the complexity of their differences with the MMA.
PML-backed Humayun Saifullah Khan and Naseer Mohammed Khan, who got re-elected as nazims of Lakki Marwat and Charsadda districts for the second term, had been at loggerheads with the MMA-led provincial government throughout their first stint in the office.
Same was the situation in the case of Nowshera district where Pervez Khattak, belonging to PPP-S was the district nazim.
He was the head of an alliance formed by all district nazims against the provincial government in protest against its policies towards the district governments.
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