LG reps threaten to widen protest if demands not met

PESHAWAR: The chairmen of neighbourhood and village councils on Wednesday threatened to widen their protest from May 17 if their demands were not met.

The elected representatives attended the protest camp set up on the premises that houses the Capital Metropolitan Government offices. It was the third day of the protest. Mayor Zubair Ali joined the protesters and asked the the provincial government to accept the demands of the members within two days, or else a city-wide protest would be launched from May 17.

He said the protest was being staged to strengthen the Local Government (LG) system. He said the LG system had weakened over the last two years. The mayor said that powers, which had been delegated to the LGs, had not been devolved at the grassroots.

Zubair Ali said people across the province had elected representatives to get their problems resolved at the local level. However, he said, the government paralysed the system while other provinces had functional LGs. The mayor said that former prime minister Imran Khan had been the proponent of a robust LG but his party had done a grave injustice to the system.

He asked the lawyers, doctors and business communities to join the protest as it was the issue of all segments of the society. Zubair Ali said minorities were not safe as they were being targtted, adding that seven churches and three gurdwaras were located within the limits of the metropolitan government but the government was not providing them security and facilities. He said the handicraft centres were going without facilities while the members of the village and neighbourhood councils staged protests for sanitation in their respective areas. The mayor said that they believed in resolution of issues through talks and were expecting a positive response from government.

He said they even filed a case in the court but still no results had been achieved.Zubair Ali said that he hoped the provincial government would resolve the issue in the next budget. However, he said, that he did not know how the government would allocate funds for the local governments.

H said the government had released funds to some tehsils but not a single penny had been released for the provincial capital. The mayor said the LG representatives were raising a voice for the rights of Peshawar. He asked the KP government to review its decisions and help the LG representatives to end the protest by accepting their demands.