ISLAMABAD, Feb 21: The date for holding local government elections in Federally Administered Tribal Areas, cantonments and Islamabad will be announced next week, National Reconstruction Bureau chairman Daniyal Aziz said on Friday.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Aziz said he had convened a meeting of the National Steering Committee on Devolution next week to fix the date for local bodies polls in Fata, cantonments and Islamabad. He confirmed that the elections would be held in next financial year.

In reply to a question about the ratio of elected and nominated members in cantonment boards under the devolution plan, he said both elected and nominated members would have equal representation.

A source said that normally a cantonment board consisted of 25 members: 12 elected representatives, 12 nominated members from the army and a head who belongs to the army.

Army personnel remain dominating in cantonment boards due to their one-man majority. Any decision or recommendation of elected members could be rejected by the nominated members due to this thin majority.

Mr Aziz said the officials of the military lands and cantonment directorate had been told to follow the model of the local bodies system adopted by provincial governments.

He said new cantonment laws had been promulgated and they would take effect from the date the local bodies elections was announced.

Talking about Fata, Mr Aziz said the government had decided to allocate more funds to establish the local government system in Fata as basic infrastructure and departments required for setting up the system did not exist there.

He said introduction of police system in Fata was a big task but efforts were being made to achieve the goal.