MANSEHRA: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf on Thursday installed its government in Balakot tehsil despite having three members in the 19-strong tehsil council with the help of 13 Pakistan Muslims League-Nawaz dissidents.

The development came as the house elected PTI’s Ibrahim Shah as nazim and PML-N’s Sardar Liaquat Khassana as naib nazim.

Last nazim Rustam Khan and his deputy Sardar Abdul Qudus, both from the PML-N, were voted out by the councillors last month.

Ibrahim Shah had moved the no confidence motion against his predecessor and Sardar Liaquat against his predecessor in the wake of an agreement between the PTI and PML-N dissident group.

Party’s nominee elected nazim with support of PML-N dissidents

The PML-N candidates for nazim and naib nazim’s slots, Arshad Zaman and Sardar Abdul Qudus respectively, secured only three votes each.

The newly-elected nazim and naib nazim thanked councillors for reposing confidence in them.

“We all will jointly work for Balakot’s development disregarding party affiliations unlike the last three years when our tehsil didn’t see development,” Mr Shah said.

FUNDS RELEASED: The provincial finance department on Thursday released Rs270 million for development schemes of Mansehra district and tehsil councils.

“We have received Rs170 million for the district council’s development schemes and Rs100 million for Mansehra tehsil council’s,” assistant director of the local government department Ziaur Rehman Jadoon told reporters here.

The official said the money was part of the development funds allocated for the current financial year.

“The money will be transferred to the bank accounts of district and tehsil councils. It is for the first two quarters of the year,” he said.

The government has yet to release the non-development funds to these local bodies.

The Nazmeen Ittehad, elected body of village and neighbourhood council nazims, has demanded the early payment of allocated funds to local bodies in Mansehra.

“We withdrew our call for agitation at the request of the LG department but the withheld funds haven’t been released yet. The unavailability of funds has adversely affected our development schemes,” Ittehad general secretary Basharat Ali Swati told reporters.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2017