KARACHI, Aug 8: More than three months have passed since opposition members of the City Council have resigned from 33 monitoring committees of the city government in protest over the April 26, 2007 incident in the city council, in which female opposition members were manhandled by members of the treasury.

Despite the efforts of some quarters to hush up the issue, it was eventually raised again when the City Council last met on August 4, and Naib City Nazim and Council Convener Nasreen Jalil told opposition members that they must attend the committees’ meetings as their resignations were not approved.

Opposition leader in the City Council Saeed Ghani told PPI that they would not change their principled stand on the resignation issue unless those responsible for manhandling the council members were penalised.

“Despite several meetings with the convener and treasury members in which the opposition presented its objections with proofs and demanded accountability of the responsible members of the Haq Parast panel, no action has been taken yet,” he said.

Juman Darwan, deputy opposition leader of the Awam Dost panel, said that the opposition was firm in its stand. He said that since female members were not safe on the council floor, how could opposition members feel secure inside committee rooms?

Masood Mehmood, senior member of the ruling Haq Parast panel and Chairman District Coordination, Human Resources Management Committee, charged that the opposition members were not serious in attending the meetings of these committees.

During the council’s session on August 4, he had proposed to the convener that a resolution could be tabled in which the opposition members should be told that their resignations were not accepted and they must start attending the meetings of committees.

The opposition members termed it out of the question.—PPI