LAHORE, Oct 25: Pandemonium was witnessed in the three-hour long general session of the Data Gunj Bakhsh Town Council on Thursday when some councillors, while protesting against the removal of Ghauri missile model from in front of the city railway station, termed President Pervez Musharraf as unconstitutional head of the state.

A councillor moved a resolution demanding a probe into the removal of the model installed at a cost of hundreds of thousands of rupees. Demanding its reinstallation, they said the government took the step for the model reminded the viewers of Mian Nawaz Sharif during whose reign the country became a nuclear state.

There was an uproar in the house when the treasury benches said President Musharraf had come into power after removing a constitutional government and resolved to pass a resolution to acknowledge Mr Sharif’s efforts in making the country the first Muslim nuclear state.

Opposition councillors stood up from their seats and demanded that the resolution should be withdrawn.

Naib Nazim Mian Usman, who was chairing the session, urged the participants to move a unanimous resolution to acknowledge the services of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Gen Ziaul Haq and Nawaz Sharif in the development of the country’s nuclear programme.

Later, the house decided to expunge the names of the three leaders and only congratulate the public for making the nuclear programme a success. It also unanimously demanded reinstallation of the model of the Ghauri missile.

The house also passed a unanimous resolution demanding making the sanitation staff subordinate to the councillors.

Town Nazim Khwaja Ahmad Hassaan told the house that no one would be allowed to dig a road for the provision of any utilities like gas, water, etc., unless and until he deposited the amount needed for the repair of the road.

The agency had also been directed to ensure repair of the road within 48 hours after the completion of the work, he said.

The town had been provided with the necessary sanitation staff, however, the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) was not extending its cooperation, Mr Hassaan said, adding a coordination committee had been formed to resolve the issue.