SWABI, March 18: The Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) would hold local government elections in the country after coming into power, Asad Qaiser, the provincial president of the party, said here on Sunday.

Talking to local journalists after attending a meeting of the party, he said that it might be difficult for them to run affairs of the country smoothly in absence of local government system. “The developed countries have not only kept this system intact but have also given free hand to local government representatives to reach their people and resolve their problems,” Mr Qaiser said.

Flanked by district office-bearers of PTI, he alleged that masses were suffering in Pakistan as selfish politicians had never given due importance to local government system.

“The problem in our country is that politicians focus on their personal interests instead of working for masses. The Mehran Bank scandal and the claim of Younas Habib about distributing public money among politicians is also a proof of it,” he added.

To a query, PTI provincial chief said that leadership of his party wanted to introduce amendments in the local government ordinance to make the system free from corruption.

He said that local government system should be intact if politicians wanted to resolve problems of people.

INJURED OFFICIAL DIES: Ali Zar Khan, an officer of special branch of police, who was seriously injured by unidentified attackers on Saturday, succumbed to his injuries in Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar.

He was sitting in a medical store on Saturday evening when two masked motorcyclists suddenly appeared and opened firing on him. He was seriously injured while both the assailants managed to escape.

The injured official was taken to district headquarters hospital in Mardan from where he was shifted to Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar.

Ziaullah, son of the deceased, registered an FIR with Yar Hussain police station against unidentified attackers.

Meanwhile, Akhtar Hussain, an official of Frontier Constabulary, who was killed in Dera Bugti, was laid to rest with honour in his ancestral graveyard here on Sunday. Officials of the district administration and local people attended his funeral.

The deceased belonged to Kaddi village. He left behind a widow and two young children to mourn his death.