TOBA TEK SINGH, July 18: A majority of councillors on Friday passed no-confidence motion against a Gojra union council Naib Nazim at a special meeting called by District Coordination Officer Karim Bakhsh Abid.
As many as 15 members of the Union Council No 24 had presented no-confidence move against Naib Nazim Dr Muhammad Afzal Masood on July 11 through the UC secretary, but Nazim Khalifa Dilbar Husain did not call a meeting till July 17.
On the demand of the councillors, the DCO called a meeting at his office where heavy police contingent was deployed to ensure peace.
Of the 21 members, as many as 16 were present at the meeting presided over by senior member Zafar Iqbal Zafri. Some 14 members cast their votes against the UC Naib Nazim.
Meanwhile, PML-N’s central leader Hamza and MPA Chaudhry Azhar Nadeem Gujjar, Gojra market committee chairman Chaudhry Asad Zaman Cheema and some PPP office-bearers alleged at a press conference that Gojra Tehsil Nazim Chaudhry Khalid Javed Warraich, and his brothers, Chaudhry Amjad Warraich (MNA) and Bilal Warraich (MPA), had harassed the councillors to stop them from attending the meeting.
They also alleged that one of the councillors, Sheikh Muhammad Shafiq, was kidnapped so that he could not attend the meeting while a woman councillor, Khursheed Begum, was also forcibly stopped from coming to Toba Tek Singh.
Mr Hamza also claimed that the Warraich brothers had sent the Gojra TMA staff to councillor Sheikh Zulfiqar Ali’s motorcycle agency from where they picked away three new bikes, claiming that these had encroached some area.
He also alleged that the manager of their (Warraichs’) transport company tortured a Wapda SDO at his office when he nabbed them stealing electricity. Faisalabad Electric Supply Company higher-ups forced the SDO and Wapda labour union office-bearers to reconcile with the Warraich brothers to save their jobs, he said, adding they all signed an agreement on Friday.
When contacted, a spokesman of the Warraich family claimed that the councillors, who had voted against the Naib Nazim, were kidnapped by Hamza and PPP’s former MNA Haji Ishaq.
Meanwhile, a no-confidence motion was passed against Toba Tek Singh Union Council No 55 acting Nazim Sheikh Faisal Rashid.
As many as 11 councillors, out of the 18, voted against the acting Nazim. Six members did not vote while one vote was rejected.