MANSEHRA: Former opposition leader in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Shahzada Gustasap Khan has demanded of the provincial government to restore district councils in the local government system to strengthen democracy.

“The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government has removed the district tier from the LG system, which is tantamount to depriving the people of their basic democratic rights,” he told reporters here on Monday.

Mr Gustasap said though tehsil councils ensured the provision of civic services to the people, key local issues were taken up by the district councils for solution.

He said the previous law empowered the district nazim to take measures for peace in his respective area but under the new law, the deputy commissioners would have those powers.

The former opposition leader said the new LG system empowered bureaucracy against the spirit of democracy. He also criticised the government over ‘failure’ to control rising inflation and said the common man was struggling manage meals for family.

“While people are struggling to make ends meet, their children’s education is suffering,” he said.

BODY FOUND: The police on Monday found a mutilated body of a five-year-old boy in Gandhian area here and arrested his uncle for murder.

SHO of the City Police Station Javed Khan told reporters that Naeem Abbas allegedly abducted Shahzeb, 5, before strangling him as the latter’s father used to taunt him for being without a male child. He said the child went missing from outside his house in Pano Dehri area on Aug 19.

The SHO said the suspect, the husband of the boy’s aunt, confessed to the crime during preliminary police investigation. Allah Rakha, the boy’s maternal grandfather, complained to the police that his daughter was tortured by his husband for not giving birth to a male child.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2021