KP Assembly passes LG bill amid protest by opposition

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Bill 2019 amid protest and uproar by opposition parties.

It paved the way for introducing a two-tier local government system in the province. The opposition parties members gathered in front of speaker dais soon after the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Sultan Mohammad Khan tabled the bill.

It might be the longest-ever protest of the opposition parties inside the House as they continued it till the end of about 91 amendments proposed by the opposition and treasury benches in the same bill.

The opposition members, while standing in front of the speaker presidium, shouted slogans against the government, thumping the desks and even some of the members were blowing whistles during the proceedings.

Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani time and again called upon the opposition leader Akram Khan Durrani to end the protest and participate in the legislation. But the opposition parties did not go back to seats till the adjournment of the session.

Talking to the media persons after the assembly session, deputy parliamentary party leader of Awami National Party Khushdil Khan said the ruling party bulldozed all the amendments and suggestions to the bill and did one-sided legislation in the House.

"We want to refer the bill to select committee of the House where each and every aspect of the next Local Government System would be discussed," he said and added that the opposition might move the Peshawar High Court against what he called the controversial bill (legislation).

Former provincial minister and Jamaat-e-Islami MPA Inayatullah said that there were many loopholes in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government System and the Bill should be properly discussed on the assembly floor.

"The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf central leadership has already approved the local government system for the province and the treasury members passed the Bill in haste," he said, adding that the opposition parties, after consensus with the nazimeen council, legal experts and civil society, might challenge the bill in the court. However, the law minister said that instead of protest, the opposition members should have sat on seats and participated in the legislation.

"We were ready to accommodate some of the amendments proposed by the opposition members," he said, adding that the opposition parties had made up their mind for a protest inside the House.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Continuation of Laws in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas Bill, 2019 was also tabled in the provincial assembly, extending all the laws to the merged districts of the province.