PESHAWAR: Elected members of the two-tier local government system in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Monday complained about “discrimination” in development funding by the the PTI-led government in the province and announced that they would protest outside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail on Dec 17.

They said the Adiala Jail protest was meant to inform incarcerated PTI leader Imran Khan about the “injustices” meted out by his party’s government to the elected local body members from the opposition parties.

Representatives of the local bodies also decided to hold a protest outside the parliament the same day and said they would stage a peaceful sit-in outside the Chief Minister’s House in Peshawar on Dec 18.

The decision to stage a protest was taken by the Local Councils Association (LCA), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in a meeting here.

Announce high court will also be approached for relief

LCA president and Mardan mayor Himayatullah Mayar chaired the meeting, which was attended by Upper Dir tehsil council chairman Rafiullah, Bara tehsil council chairman Mufti Kafeel, Jamrud tehsil council chairman Azmat Afridi, Samar Bagh council chairman Said Ahmad Badshah and LCA coordinator Intizar Ali Khalil.

The participants also included the members of the village and neighborhood councils, including chairmen.

Himayatullah Mayar later told reporters that a couple of days ago, the PTI government in the province released Rs2.3 billion development funds to 51 tehsil local governments, run by PTI members, but the rest of the 131 LGs didn’t get any funding.

“Not a single penny has been released to the chairmen of tehsil councils belonging to the opposition parties,” he claimed, declaring the act an injustice with the people of those tehsils.

He said that 29,960 people had made it to local bodies through elections held three years ago, including general, youth, peasant and minority councillors, 4,212 village and neighbourhood council chairmen, who all would protest outside the Adiala Jail.

“Elected members of local bodies are troubled by the denial of development funds, which is a violation of the Constitution and Local Government Act, 2013,” he said.

Mr Mayar also announced that the LG members would move the Peshawar High Court against the funding discrimination and get a stay order against the release of development funds.

He said the provincial government had not only withheld development funds but also clipped powers of local bodies rendering them ineffective.

The LCA president said the provincial government’s indifferent attitude towards local government issues was a let-down.

He said repeated protests and negotiations on those problems, especially funding denial, took place but the provincial government had failed to fulfil its promises.

LCA coordinator Intizar Khalil said the elected local body members, after lengthy consultation, decided that a peaceful protest would be held outside Adiala Jail at 11am on Dec 17 to highlight the provincial government’s injustices.

He also said a peaceful protest would take place in front of the Parliament House at 3pm the same day.

“On December 18, a peaceful sit-in will be staged outside the Chief Minister’s House thatwill continue until the government fulfils our demands, including release of funds,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2024