PESHAWAR, June 20: Some women, minority, peasant and labour councillors of the District Council Peshawar on Thursday formed a “United Councillors Organization” to struggle for their rights.

At a meeting, the estranged councillors criticized the attitude of District Nazim Azam Afridi and Naib Nazim Iqbal Khalil towards their demands. Councillors Shamim Qaisar Khan, Noor Jehan, Inayat Begum, Fakhrun Nisa, Musarrat Bibi, Shazia Tehmas, Rukhsana Akbar, Shakira Afzal, Ismat Karim, Tasleem Salman, Rukhsana Maqbool, Nargis Sameen, Shakeela Khan, Nishat Akbar, Safia Naz, Tariq Haideri, Mohammad Iqbal, Mir Wais Khan, Sahib Singh, Darvesh Chand, James Iqbal, and Gulshan Yousuf attended the meeting.

They said that last year the district council had allocated Rs500,000 for women and minority councillors’ development schemes, but the district council had not spent a single penny in their areas yet. They asked the Nazim to explain where these funds had been spent.

They said the councillors had a share of 10 per cent in the Khushal-i-Pakistan Programme, but they had not been provided any funds out of it.

They demanded of the district council to allocate funds in a transparent manner. The recruitments made by the district Nazim should be placed before the house, they added.

The United Councillors Organization, they said, would work for the rights of councillors and play a watchdog role in the house.