KP govt uses force to break LG reps protest

PESHAWAR: Several people were injured and multiple arrests made when police resorted to baton-charge, teargas shelling and used water cannons to break a protest by the Local Government (LG) representatives who had gathered here on Wednesday from across the province to demand funds and powers to serve the masses.

The mayors, tehsil, neighbourhood and village councils chairmen had announced to stage a sit-in outside the KP Assembly and Chief Minister’s House on September 4 to force the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led provincial government to accept their demands.

The protest decision was made last week after several demands made by the LG representatives for funds and powers failed to attract the KP government’s attention.

The plan for the protest was finalized a day earlier. Peshawar’s Capital Metropolitan Government Mayor Zubair Ali, affiliated with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF), had announced the plan.

The LG representatives gathered at the historic Jinnah Park. But the police came into action when the protesters started marching towards the Chief Minister’s House.

The police resorted to teargas shelling against the protesters near the Civil Secretariat in a bid to stop them from proceeding to the Chief Minister’s House. The baton charge left several LG representatives injured who were rushed to hospital. Water cannons were used as well to quell the protest.

Later, talking to the media, Peshawar Mayor Zubair Ali said at least 25 elected representatives had been arrested and several others were injured during the police action. He said that they were in the process of finalizing the names for talks with the provincial government when the teargas shelling began all of a sudden. “We will not quit our demands as we know how to handle such situation,” said the mayor, the son of a senior JUIF leader and former governor Ghulam Ali.

“We do not want to escalate the protest into a movement to oust the PTI government. But continued KP government’s intransigence can lead to a province-wide protest,” he warned.

Other protesting LG representatives argued that they were elected to address issues at the grassroots level, but the government later amended the Local Government Act to reverse the devolution of powers. They lamented that a lack of funds had prevented them from undertaking development projects in their areas.

The speakers criticized the PTI government for depriving 25,000 elected representatives of funds and authority despite earlier tall claims of devolution of powers.

Meanwhile, Awami National Party (ANP) provincial president Mian Iftikhar Hussain arrived at the site to express solidarity with the LG representatives. He condemned the use of force against peaceful elected representatives, calling their demands legitimate.

Governor Faisal Karim Kundi expressed concern over the police action, directing the Inspector General of Police Akhtar Hayat Khan Gandapur to release the arrested LG representatives.

He accused the provincial government of using fascist tactics, noting that the PTI had promised to provide facilities at the grassroots level but had instead usurped the rights of elected representatives.

The governor said the use of force against peaceful protesters had exposed the true face of PTI and demonstrated that the party had lost the people’s confidence and could not tolerate dissenting voices.