December 14, 2008	Sunday	Zilhaj 15, 1429

KOHAT, Dec 13: The members of tehsil council staged a protest on Saturday in front of municipal building against suspension of their nazim and threatened to continue the agitation against what they called the illegal action.

The members of tehsil council wearing black armbands met here on Saturday with convener Haji Zikria Khan in the chair and discussed the allegations levelled against the tehsil nazim, who has been suspended for 90 days by the provincial government.

They termed all the allegations false, baseless and politically motivated and demanded action against the former members of the council and tehsil municipal officers, who according to them siphoned off more than Rs40 million. They said that the government was punishing them for the crimes of the former administration which amounted to victimisation.

Tehsil Municipal Officer Sakhi Jan Marwat and some of the prominent members exchanged charges and held each other responsible for the prevailing mess caused by false inquiries and illegal actions.

The TMO came at the stage and presented himself for accountability by the members of the council. He asked them to prepare a report against him with all proofs and send it to the provincial government for departmental action.

He said that he was ready for every punishment if corruption charges levelled against him by some members were proved. He also demanded that the house should constitute a committee to probe the matter and prepare a written report against him.

Later, he requested the members of the council to submit development schemes for approval so that the projects could be approved. He said that the TMA had set aside Rs9.2 million for the annual development programme and the government could provide more funds if required.

The members of the house later held a protest in front of the TMA building and demanded reinstatement of the tehsil nazim.

The protest was led by naib nazim of union council Urban-III Haji Iftikhar, who threatened to continue the protest till the reinstatement of the tehsil nazim. The protesters wanted to march towards the commissioner house but police stopped them from passing through the cantonment.