MARDAN, Aug 23: Former adviser to the NWFP chief minister, Mehir Badshah, has said that he will stand for the post of district nazim Mardan and he is in contact with “friends and well-wishers”.

Addressing a press conference at his residence, Mehir Badshah said he was a non-political figure and had no contacts with political parties. Despite that, he said, he could contest for the post.

He said he had good relations with officials of both federal and provincial governments and knew people in the World Bank and donor agencies. Therefore, if elected district nazim, “I can serve well this backward area”.

He claimed that most people were fed up with political and religious parties, and he “genuinely hoped” that independent elected councillors and UC nazims “would come to my side”.

He said that he would announce his panel in a day or two and take “great care” to select honest, sincere and professional persons so that they could work for the uplift of this backward area. He claimed that he had recruited a large number of people from Mardan in foreign countries while serving there, and hoped that they would now back him in the electoral race.

He said that he wanted to break the record of Niamatullah Khan, former nazim of Karachi, and would focus on education, health, and infrastructure development.