Discussion on Panama Papers creates uproar in district council

PESHAWAR: The district council on Wednesday witnessed an uproar as the councillors from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) traded harsh words when the issue of the Panama leaks came under discussion.

The councillors from the two parties spoke loudly against the central leadership of the two parties. They were about to indulge in a physical fight but members belonging to other parties managed to avert the scuffle.

The session was held with naib nazim Syed Qasim Ali Shah in the chair. The repeated requests by the convener to the councillors to stay calm fell on deaf year, which led him to adjourn the session.

The hullabaloo started in the council, when the PTI councillor Meena Khan Afridi took the floor on a point of order and drew the attention of the council towards the much highlighted Panama leaks. He pointed fingers at Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose sons, according to him, have set up offshore companies instead of making investment in own country.

Earlier, several councillors raised the issue of festive firing in the district, which they said had taken lives of many innocent people. Shamsul Bari of the PTI said that police should take effective measures to overcome celebratory firing.

Councillor Muhibur Rehman said that during the recent past the festive firing has increased to an alarming extent but no one from the government could take any notice of it. He urged the councillors of the district, four towns and village and neighbourhood councils to create awareness among the masses against the festive firing.

Liaqat Khan, Saeedur Rehman Safi and Gul Afzal said the masses were facing problems in acquiring identity cards or renewal. They said National Database and Registration Authority has also blocked the identity cards of thousands of people.

They demanded the government to establish a mechanism for the verification because the masses were facing a lot of problems as the officials of different intelligence agencies carry out the verification process.

Gul Zada Khan said that no development works were launched even six months after the unveiling of the district budget. He demanded the government to spare 10 per cent of fund in the budget for the village and neighbourhood councils for the repair of the electricity transformers. The house also approved by-laws for the functioning of the district council.