KOHAT: A meeting of a group of district councillors, led by former PML-N senator Abbas Afridi, has finalised its strategy to topple the government of JUI-F’s district nazim Maulana Niaz Mohammad.

The tussle between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, which holds the nazim slot in the tehsil council, and JUI-F has been going on for the past few weeks.

Reacting to the efforts of PML-N leaders to purchase the loyalties of councillors for dislodging the district nazim, the JUI-F and PTI had earlier announced to bring a no-confidence move against the tehsil nazim.

The meeting chaired by Abbas Afridi was held at Azeem Bagh and attended by some councillors from JUI-F and PTI. It decided to table a no-confidence move against the district nazim after return of PML-N naib nazim Abdur Rasheed from Umra.

Also, a gathering of JUI-F councillors was held at the residence of its district secretary general Jameel Paracha, which was presided over by the party’s district president Maulana Abdul Hayee.

Maulana Hayee informed the members about the efforts of the committee headed by him to avert the no-trust move. Mr Paracha, speaking on the occasion, said that the JUI-F councillors, who had indulged in floor crossing, now stood exposed.

He recalled that under the agreement the PML-N leaders and councillors had given assurance at the time of formation of the district government to support it for next four years, but now they were backing out of that accord.

He stated that they had mutually decided that there would be a government of JUI-F in the district council and that of PML-N in the tehsil council. He hoped that the no-trust move would be defeated with the support of the PTI members. He claimed that JUI-F had got the required majority to replace the tehsil nazim.

Political analysts say only the fate of tehsil government seems to be in doldrums because the PTI members are not happy with the performance of PML-N nazim.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2017