PESHAWAR,  Sept 11: All six opposition groups in the NWFP assembly have announced that they will challenge the unilateral administrative and financial decisions taken by the provincial government in the Peshawar High Court.

Speaking to journalists here at the Peshawar press club on Thursday, Anwar Kamal Khan of the PML-N, Abdul Akbar Khan of People’s Party Parliamentarians, Bashir Ahmed Bilour of the Awami National Party (ANP), Makhdoom Mureed Kazim of the PPP-S, Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani of the PML-Q and Shahzad Gistasip Khan of the Independent Group said the government had left no choice for them but to file a reference against its decisions in the high court.

On this occasion, Anwar Kamal Khan of the PML-N vowed to resist the undemocratic decisions taken by the NWFP government.

Leaders of the opposition advised the government either to revive the District Development Advisory Committee Act for the equitable distribution of funds among the MPAs or pass the proposed bill drafted by the special committee headed by Deputy Speaker Ikramullah Shahid and signed by Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Sardar Mohammad Idrees.

Mr Kamal said his party had extended an unconditional support to the MMA government, but it had two faces, one to appease the opposition and another to dupe their own novice lawmakers.

“We have withdrawn our support for the MMA government. All major political groups, irrespective of their views, had been with the government for the rights of the province, but the MMA government has taken a big U-turn on some vital issues,” he added.

The MMA government, he said, was trying to deprive other MPAs of their development funds by making bloc allocations of the annual development programme.

The MMA wanted to punish the people of D I Khan, Tank, Kohat, Lakki Marwat and other districts who voted against the MMA candidates, he added.

Bashir Ahmed Bilour of the ANP claimed that the chief minister had issued 516 directives (worth Rs26 billion) during the ADP process which amounted to usurping the rights of elected representatives.

He said the MMA government had provided official vehicles to its non-elected leaders and workers in various districts, which was a violation of their own Islamic code.

Abdul Akbar Khan said last year he had tabled an adjournment motion in  the assembly about some lacunas in the Local Government Ordinance, 2001, which offered no mechanism for the equitable distribution of the bloc allocation of the ADP.

The assembly, he said, formed a special committee headed by Deputy Speaker Ikramullah Shahid to propose an alternative to the DDAC Act.

The special committee, he said, proposed some recommendations along with a draft bill, providing a blueprint of an alternative mechanism for the execution of the ADP. Mr Shahid introduced the bill in the assembly, but on Wednesday he (Shahid) asked the chair to refer the bill to another select committee, he added.

Mr Akbar said the speaker expressed no confidence in the 11-member special committee by referring the bill to a select committee.