RAWALPINDI: After the decision of the Punjab caretaker cabinet, the provincial government withdrew the notification to declare Murree as a district and it has now become a tehsil of the Rawalpindi district.

Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatha told Dawn that the government withdrew the notification and now Murree and Kotli Sattian have become tehsils of Rawalpindi district with immediate effect.

He said that earlier, the provincial cabinet made the decision to give Murree status of a district and now the provincial caretaker government has taken the decision to withdraw the notification in this regard. “Implementation has been started in this regard soon after the cabinet’s decision,” he said.

The Punjab government gave Murree the status of a district in mid October 2022. After this, the Rawalpindi division comprises of six districts including Rawalpindi, Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum, Talagang and Murree. Murree district comprises of two tehsils: Murree and Kotli Sattian.

After the tragic death of 23 people in their vehicles trapped in heavy snow, in January 2022, former Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar announced that it has been decided in principle to award Murree, with the status of adistrict.

Retired Maj Latasob Satti from Kotli Sattian and other PTI leaders from Murree and Kotli Sattian were pursuing the government to give Murree the status of a district so maximum relief could be provided to people.

It may be mentioned here that former the PML-N government had also decided to giveMurree the status of a district in 2014. The then government formed a seven-member committee led by then Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqaan Abbasi. However, the plan did not materialise in the PML-N’s tenure due to some political and administrative problems.

Punjab caretaker government’s decision regarding the termination of Murree’s district status was challenged in Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench. Former member of the National Assembly (NA) Sadaqat Abbasi from constituency NA-57 and Latasab Sati from provincial constituency PP-6 filed the petition.

It was stated that during the Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) regime, the Punjab government had given Murree the status of a district and for this purpose, a formal notification was issued last year. As it consists of beautiful mountain ranges, Murree and Kotli Sattian are prominent destinations for tourism, especially during the rainy season.

They said that the caretaker government will run day to day affairs of the province till new elections but the present caretaker government maliciously suspended the decision of the previous government and de-notified the district status of Murree and issued a new notification on Feb 15 to cancel the separate district status of Murree.

Former MNA Sadaqat Abbasi told Dawn that the decision to grant Murree district status was taken by an elected government and in this context, a caretaker government can neither formulate any permanent policy nor change any policy and permanent decision of the previous elected government.

He said that this action of the government was completely illegal because the caretaker government has no authority to suspend this notification. He said that this decision of the government exposed the intention of the caretaker set up and what impartiality would be expected from it in the coming days.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2023