December 06, 2006	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 14, 1427

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SWABI, Dec 5: The opposition in the Swabi Tehsil Council staged a walkout on Monday to protest against the refusal of senior officials belonging to various departments to attend a council session and to respond to the complaints lodged against them by the members.

The opposition, led by Swabi Qaumi Mahaz chief Muhammad Naeem, said the heads of different departments had been asked several times in the past to attend the council sessions but they deliberately avoided doing so. The opposition members said they would not return to the house until they were given an assurance over the presence of government officials in the sessions.

They, however, returned to the house when members of the treasury bench assured the opposition that the officials concerned would face stern action if they failed to attend the next session of the council.

Later, kicking off the debate on the sole cash crop of the district – tobacco — the house unanimously demanded of the federal government to abolish the Pakistan Tobacco Board, accusing it of being a white elephant that had ruined tobacco growers. They accused officials of the PTB of being in league with national and multinational companies and other buyers of the crop to the detriment of the tobacco growers.

They claimed that each year the board got millions of rupees in different taxes but it had done nothing for the benefit of the growers of the area.

The council members welcomed the upgradation of Topi to Tehsil level and appreciated the role of the NWFP chief minister and education minister in this regard.

They unanimously demanded that the offices of the Topi Tehsil should be constructed near the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology.

The members of the council were critical of the education minister who, they claimed, had neglected merit in appointment of people to different union councils.