All district nazims of NWFP Wednesday rejected the District Government Act 2008 and announced to wage a legal battle against the provincial government. The districts had already obtained the services of the legal wizard Sardar Khan.
In this connection a meeting of the district nazims NWFP was held at Tribal Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TACCI) and out of 24 districts 21 district nazims attended the meeting and reviewed the situation emerged due to the unnecessary and unjustified interference in the local government system. During the meeting the nazims also took important decisions relating to future line of action.
Briefing the media, District Nazim, Peshawar Haji Ghulam Ali alleged that some elements in the provincial government have made issuance of statements against local government system. Their good performance exhibited by the district government during last eight years had not digested by them therefore they are bent upon to rollback the system. Haji Ghulam Ali said that the constitution of 1973 guaranteed the de-centralisation of and devolution of powers to grass root level. But, he castigated that the present provincial government is bent upon the abolition of the district government system and once again pushing the province towards centralisation.
The abolition of the district government system, Haji Ghulam Ali said hit hard only general public as district secretariats had been established in all far-flung districts and now their problems resolved in their own district. He said that after the abolition of the system the residents of those districts would have to travel a long to the provincial metropolis for the resolution of their minor problems.
The District Nazims Ittehad in NWFP, he said would oppose the bid of the provincial government at all levels and in this connection trade unions of all departments would be contacted formally to take them into confidence.
The political parties of the coalition government in the province, he said before election pledged that they would exempt consumers consuming electricity of 100 units of depositing the bill of the utility, stoppage of military action in Fata and restoration of the independent judiciary in the country. However, he said these political parties instead of fulfilling their electoral pledges are exhausting their energies on the abolition of the district government system.
He said that due to the ill-planned policies of the government, people are facing worst kind of power load shedding of 15 hours a day while the law and order situation is turning from bad to worse and no one feel himself safe. The kidnapping for ransom has become a routine matter while the rulers are busy in identifying disadvantages in the local government system. Haji Ghulam Ali said that due to the crisis like situation common man, trading and industrialists' communities had lost confidence in the government.
The provincial government, he alleged had directed Chief Secretary for not accepting even the genuine demands of the nazims, who had issued directives to District Co-ordination Officers (DCOs) not to cooperate with the district nazims in the province. "We condemn such anti-local government decisions of the provincial government and attribute it to a conspiracy against the system," said Haji Ghulam Ali. He said that Chief Minister NWFP had made a pledge with all 24-district nazims that instead of abolition the government would introduce amendments in the system that would also be carried out in consultation with the nazims. However, none of the nazims was included in the review committee over the matter.
Haji Ghulam Ali, who is a close relative of the JUI-F chief Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman that district nazims of the province are writing a letter to President Asif Ali Zardari to bring the problems confronted by the people in the province in his notice and would be told that the elected representatives of the people had failed in arresting the problems of law and order and power load shedding while nazims, who despite having limited resources had served the people are falling victims to the conspiracy. He said he would also to hold a meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari. District Nazim Abbottabad, Sardar Haider Zaman and District Nazim, Mardan, Himayatullah Mayar, who were also flanking Haji Ghulam Ali called for holding referendum on the abolition of the district government.
Others present on the occasion were district nazim, Karak, Rehmat Salam Khattak, district nazim, Swabi, Shehram Tarakai and nazims of Haripur, Kohistan, Chitral, D.I.Khan and Malakand.
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