HARIPUR, June 7: Nazims and members of 19 of the 44 union councils of the Haripur district on Friday threatened to resign en masse if resignations of the 24 district Nazims — who had earlier resigned in protest against the attitude of the provincial government — were accepted by the president.

The threat was issued at a meeting held here to discuss the situation arising out of the tussle between the local and provincial governments.

Earlier, 15 of the union council Nazims had threatened to quit their offices.

Discussing the prevailing political situation in the province, the union council Nazims criticized the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government for what they termed a move to dislodge the district governments.

Endorsing the district Nazims move to resign, they expressed their solidarity, saying it was a move to protect the people’s rights.

Expressing their resolve to defend the local government system at any cost, they said that they would not allow anyone to robe the people of their rights, adding that the development work carried out by the district governments was more than what successive governments had done in the past 53 years.

They urged President Gen Pervez Musharraf to protect the district government system, saying vested interests were bent upon disrupting the new system, adding that these elements would never allow it to run in a smooth fashion.

The Nazims, who threatened to resign belong to following union councils, include

Hattar, Nara Amazai, Kundi, Kupri, Najafpur, Khalo, Pind Hasham Khan, Beer, Pandak, Pind Kamal Khan, Bareela, Dingi, Panian and Neelan Bhoto.

PRESS CLUB ELECTION: The annual elections of the Haripur Press Club will be held on June 12, this was announced at an extraordinary meeting of HPC held with Khanzada Amjad in the chair.