ABBOTTABAD: The nazim, naib nazim and five other members of the Abbottabad district council have resigned from their respective offices to contest the national and provincial assembly elections.

Also, the vice president and a member of the Abbottabad cantonment board have quit their respective seats to contest the provincial assembly elections.

The resignations have rendered the district council non-functional.

Legal experts are silent about the fate of the council and cantonment board.

Nazim, naib nazim among them

Elections for the nazim and naib nazim’s offices will be held either after the seven vacant seats are filled or new heads of the house are elected from among other councillors.

It is also unclear if the deputy commissioner will take over the house on ad hoc basis.

The experts say all sorts of development work has been suspended until the holding of elections but the main issue at hand will be how to handle the salary and other non-development expenditure.

The local residents complain that more than Rs1.3 billion funds haven’t been used in Abbottabad district since the district council was formed few years ago as the previous and current nazims had a legal fight.

The district council also didn’t receive major grant from the provincial government due to infighting in the ruling PTI.

The resident complained they’d hoped that the local bodies would address their problems, especially water shortage and lack of cleanliness, but all those hopes turned out to be false.

The people of cantonment areas insist they will suffer after the vice president and a member of the cantonment board resigned to contest elections.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2018