Mardan nazim, naib nazim criticise one-month suspension

Plan to approach court, use democratic way to seek justice

MARDAN: Suspended District Nazim Himayatullah Mayar on Monday criticised Chief Minister Pervez Khattak for issuing one-month suspension order for him and Naib Nazim Asad Ali.

“The chief minister has no powers to suspend me or the Naib Nazim. This is a violation of the laws, constitution and democracy,” he said while addressing an emergency session of the District Council Mardan.

The suspended Naib Nazim and 61 members of the council were present at the session.Himayatullah Mayar, who belongs to the Awami National Party, said that on May 6 the chief minister issued an order stating that according to the relevant laws, he had suspended him and Naib Nazim Asad Ali for not getting the budget approved by the District Council.

He claimed that according to the Local Government Act, the chief minister has no powers to suspend the District Nazim and Naib Nazim. He added that they had passed the district budget with simple majority and 59 members of the council had signed the documents.

Himayatullah Mayar pointed out that later the District Council members including those from the opposition parties Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Jamaat-e-Islami filled out the form and presented their schemes in the meeting. He said these schemes were approved by the District Development Committee (DDC) headed by deputy commissioner Mardan and also by other committees.

He said that on December 18, a complaint was registered against them. “We started several projects in Mardan and are fulfilling the needs of various schools and hospitals,” he said, adding that despite all this suspension order was issued against them by the chief minister.

He added that the provincial government failed to provide relief to the masses and instead it hatched conspiracy against the district government in Mardan.Himayatullah Mayar alleged that the provincial government tried to change the loyalty of the members of the district assembly. “When they failed to do so, the chief minister through an order suspended me and the Naib Nazim for one month,” he complained.

He said that he with the consultation of his allies had decided to use democratic and legal ways and also approach the Peshawar High Court (PHC) for justice.On the occasion, about 62 members of the District Council were present and they gave vote of confidence to Himayatullah Mayar and Asad Ali through the show of hands.