April 09, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 2, 1429

RAWALPINDI, April 8: Opposition members in Rawal Town Council on Tuesday barred the city fathers from approving further development packages demanding Town Nazim Sheikh Rashid Shafique to immediately step down otherwise a joint no-confidence motion would be moved against him.

At the outset of the proceedings, naib nazim Chaudhry Farooq requested the elected representatives to endorse the development package. However, the joint opposition refused to do so and walked out.

“Why should we pass a resolution for approving the package? The funds are going to be utilised nowhere except in Lal Haveli.” The members started chanting slogans like “Go Rashid go”, “Go Javed Ikhlas go”. After the walkout, a small number of elected representatives associated with the former king’s party was left behind.

The councillors associated with Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) also called upon the government to dissolve the current local governments and announce fresh elections.

Opposition leader in the house Rana Sohail Pasha questioned the convener as to why the house was told to endorse development package when the town had already approved a hefty development fund in the previous session.

Interestingly, the town nazim was not present in the house and the entire elected representatives raised eyebrows over the unusual absence of Mr Shafique, the nephew of former railway minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.

The opposition members vowed to bring a no-confidence motion against the town nazim in the next session and demanded the convener to summon the session as soon as possible. They claimed that 55 out of the 65 members of the house would vote against the nazim.

Lady councillor Sumaira Gul demanded town municipal officer and other revenue officers to inform the house about the total assets of the town and complained that the elected representatives had been kept in the dark about the matter.

Earlier, PPP’s naib nazims including Nasir Mir, Tahir Gondal and Haji Sher Zaman demanded that Jinnah Park should be renamed as Bhutto Park.

Some opposition councillors complained that they had been discriminated against in allocation of development packages for the last eight months.