Possible abolition of Chitral PA seat rejected

PESHAWAR: Former Member National Assembly (MNA) and leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali on Thursday rejected the possible abolition of one of the two provincial assembly (PA) seats of the Chitral district.

Addressing a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Saturday, Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali said the government had abolished one of the two provincial assembly seats in the district in the name of the election reforms, which were the outcome of the election reforms bill recently passed by the Senate. The JI leader said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has already posted on its website the notification regarding the abolition of one of the two seats of the provincial assembly in the biggest district, area-wise, of the province.

Maulana Chitrali demanded the government to immediately withdraw its decision regarding the abolition of the provincial assembly seat as the decision was going to deprive the people of Chitral of their rights to representation in the provincial legislature. He threatened that people of the district would boycott the upcoming general elections if the decision was not reversed.

The former MNA also announced to challenge the decision in the Peshawar High Court and Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Our correspondent adds from Chitral: Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) Syed Sardar Hussain Shah opposed the possible abolition of a provincial assembly seat of the district and warned of boycotting the general election.

Speaking at a press conference, the lawmaker said that Chitral was one of the largest districts of the province. He said that there were two provincial assembly seats but it was being deprived of one seat after the new census report. He said that Chitral was a princely state before its merger into the erstwhile NWFP. He said that the people willingly accepted the merger but get nothing in return. He said that almost half of the population of Chitral were doing business and other jobs in various parts of the country and alleged that these people were not counted in the census. He vowed to challenge the decision in the court.