MANSEHRA, July 8: Members of a group headed by ex-senator Syed Qasim Shah vowed on Friday to strengthen their grand alliance with the JUI-F and other like-minded groups for the upcoming local council elections. A meeting convened by Syed Abbas Shah, a former provincial minister and elder brother of Syed Qasim Shah, was attended by former nazims, naib nazims and councillors of Mansehra town and adjoining areas.

It was decided that meetings of the group would be held in Mansehra, Ogi and Balakot tehsils and finally a joint meeting would be held in Mansehra district headquarters.

A former director general of the Anti-Narcotics Force, Gen (retd) Salahuddin Tirmizi, Syed Junaid Ali Qasim, ex-nazim of Balakot tehsil and son of Syed Qasim Shah, and others spoke on the occasion.

Syed Junaid Qasim said that the meeting had been convened on the directions of his father Syed Qasim Shah who wanted to take people into confidence and elicit their opinion on which candidates the group should field in the local council elections.

“We want peace, prosperity and development in the district. By forgetting all differences of the past, we want to forge unity among the people for curbing the tribal and racial hatred to usher the area on the path of sustainable development,” he said.

Mr Junaid said the alliance with the JUI-F and other like-minded groups would be strengthened and seat adjustments would be made so that maximum candidates of their choice could be elected in the local council elections.

Speaking on the occasion, Gen (Retd) Salahuddin Tirmizi said that he belonged to the Azam Khan Swati group and would always remain loyal to him.

“We made the grand alliance during the last local body elections with the aim of eliminating the atmosphere of hatred and tribal prejudice and exposing the real face of turncoats who had set the tradition of changing loyalties for their own vested interests,” he said.

He said that their group had no lust for top slots and had been overwhelmed by a desire to put the area on the path of progress and prosperity. “For this purpose, we shall nominate panels with mutual counselling in all the union councils of the district,” he said.

“If we could keep our alliance intact, we would not only sweep the local body elections but we would also throw out the turncoats and exploiters from the national and provincial assemblies,” he added.

Mr Tirmizi said that he was very grateful to Syed Qasim Shah’s group as its followers had cast thousands of votes in his favour during the last general elections.

He said that the group of Qasim Shah was a separate entity an expressed confidence that it would be very helpful to the grand alliance. A former chairman of the district council Mohammad Yousaf Khan and Dr Dilawar Khan Ogi eulogised the services of Qasim Shah.

They said that Qasim Shah was “not a political figure but the name of a movement” that brought about revolutionary changes and carried out unmatched development projects in Mansehra. These changes occurred when Mr Qasim Shah served first as chairman of the defunct district council and then as federal minister.