HYDERABAD, March 27: The members of the Hyderabad District Council on Thursday criticized City taluka Nazim Moin Shaikh for his remarks against union council-8 Nazim Saleem Khan.

Describing his behaviour as an insult to the council, they said union council Nazims should not be taken for granted.

The council witnessed an uproar after Mr Khan presented a motion, recounting the Wednesday night’s incident in which, he said, Mr Shaikh passed indecent remarks against him.

He said he was ready to appear before any commission and face punishment if proved guilty.

Other members followed Mr Khan when he staged a token walkout.

The chair resumed the proceedings after ten minutes.

Mr Khan said at a reception hosted by a traders’ organization of his area, the taluka Nazim insulted him without any reason.

He told the council Mr Shaikh passed objectionable remarks against him after he said he had no objection to what office-bearers of the organization said in support of their demands and that issues confronting them should be taken up on priority basis.

The union council Nazim said the district Nazim had also deplored the attitude of the taluka Nazim by saying his attitude was uncalled for.

Supporting Mr Khan, Qazi Qadeer, who was present at the reception, condemned the behaviour of Mr Shaikh.

He said if the union council Nazim had given his consent on some issues it did not mean he had scored political points and it should not have infuriated the taluka council Nazim.

He stressed the need for devising a proper strategy to avoid confrontation among Nazims.

Slamming Mr Shaikh for his remarks, Yousuf Qureshi accused taluka Nazims of targeting union council Nazims.

He pointed out powers of taluka and union council Nazims had been clearly defined in the Sindh Local Government Ordinance.

Q. Mohammad Hakim, Tanvir Siddiqui, Mohammad Ali Gohar and Dilshad Khan also criticized the taluka Nazim.

Mr Hakim said the only job of the Taluka Municipal Administration was to ensure provision of civic facilities.

He said Nazims of union councils were not answerable to anyone as they themselves were the executing authority of development schemes.

He called upon the district Nazim to apprise taluka Nazims of their role as enshrined in the SLGO because they were misusing their authority.

The members said if no action was taken against Mr Shaikh, the members would assume that the convener of the council had failed to protect their honour.

Syed Raza Shah, Rauf Jafri, Hussain Bux Hussaini and others called upon the council members to resort to social boycott of Mr Shaikh.

They said a representation should be sent to the Sindh Local Government Commission and the National Reconstruction Bureau.