SWABI: The mayor of Topi tehsil, Mohammad Rahim Jadoon, has rejected the proposed amendments to Local Government Act, 2013, and threatened to challenge the changes in the court of law.
Talking to journalists here on Monday, he said that provincial government wanted to curtail the powers of the elected representatives. He said that government wanted to empower bureaucrats instead of elected representatives.
Flanked by other local government representatives, Mr Jadoon said that the PTI government was striving to bring drastic change in the rules of business to reduce the powers of mayors and chairmen of city and tehsil councils.
“The government should keep in mind that we are elected by the people and ready to deliver according to their wishes,” he said. He added that after facing defeat in the local bodies’ elections, the PTI leadership was adopting tactics to weaken the elected representatives.
Mr Jadoon, a local leader of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, said that their supporters would stage protests against the proposed changes and government would be responsible for any untoward incident.
JOURNALIST DIES: Sajid Adam, a local social media activist and journalist, passed away after protracted illness at Bacha Khan Hospital Complex, Shahmansoor on Sunday night.
He was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard here on Monday. A resident of Maneri Payyan village, he was living in Pirtab area. He left behind a widow, a son, four daughters and parents. He was suffering from cancer.
Sajid, 38, was an active member of Swabi Union of Journalists. He worked for different newspapers. “We have lost a brave and brilliant journalist, who always remained unbiased and did fair and fearless reporting. We are proud of his contributions,” said SUJ president Ihsanul Haq Bamkhelvi.
The politicians belonging to different parties also condoled his death and appreciated his contributions.
JIRGA: The Utman Jirga called off its scheduled protest against power outages after holding successful talks with the officials of Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco).
Fazal Khaliq, a member of the jirga, said that they told the Pesco officials that they would give another call for protest if power outages were not stopped.
Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2022