MINGORA, Nov 2: The opposition parties in the district council, Dir (upper), have planned to form a parallel district government as part of their disobedience movement against District Nazim Sahibzada Tariqullah.

Talking to Dawn here on Sunday the opposition leader in the district council, Ganorai Union Council Nazim Syed Hasim Hussain, lashed out at the District Nazim for his alleged dictatorial manner and asked him to step down in the best interest of the people of the area.

He said that Mr Tariqullah became the Nazim with the support of Pakistan People’s Party (Sherpao), whereas the PPP-S too had parted ways with the him at present. He said that the Nazim was morally bound to step down.

He alleged that the Dir (upper) district coordination officer (DCO) was hand in glove with the Nazim and conspiring against the opposition.

He added that the DCO had even refused to provide a copy of the notification issued by the provincial government for holding of second round of vote of no confidence against the district Nazim.

He claimed that six political parties including Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP-S), People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP), Awami National Party (ANP), Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI), Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam) had come on a single platform against the Nazim.

He claimed that the number of opposition Nazims was 22 (twenty-two), whereas those in his favour were only 12 members.

In such a situation the Nazim would never be able to hold a meeting of the council, he

said and added: “Without the participation of the opposition Nazims the council will always face the lack of quorum problem.”

Mr Hussain said that the provincial government had fixed Nov 15 for the holding of second round of polling, but the DCO got the date changed to Oct 30.

“In such a situation the opposition the opposition had no other option but to boycott the polling,” he said.

He said majority of their councillors had been in Karachi, Quetta and other cities in connection with their business activities and were informed about the polling on Nov 15, then how could have they cast their votes on Oct 30, he posed a question.

Replying to a question, he accused that the district Nazim was bypassing the council members and allocating the developmental funds only to his dear ones.

When contacted on phone, the district Nazim rejected the allegations and termed them totally baseless.

He said that in the district he had planned developmental schemes of over Rs1 billion.

He said that the Nazims were playing in the hands of some political elements, creating uncertainty.

He said that the opposition had no status and it was proved recently when it filed a no-trust motion against him.

The Nazim accused Najamuddin Khan, provincial general secretary of the People’s Party Parliamentarians of hatching conspiracies against him, adding that the Nazims of union councils were innocent in this regard.

He asked the opposition to wait for another one year, as it failed to get him disqualified.