ANP asks government to hold local bodies elections

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) on Thursday demanded holding of local government elections in the country, particularly in the merged districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, saying a real democracy was possible only with the devolution of power at lower level.

Addressing media persons after a function at Baacha Khan Markaz here, ANP’s provincial general secretary Sardar Hussain Babak said that if the present government was not serious in holding the local government polls, then the Supreme Court of Pakistan must take notice of it and ensure local bodies elections across the country.

“The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government is reluctant to hold elections at union council levels for its fear of possible defeat,” the ANP leader said and added that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government should make arrangements for holding polls in the newly merged districts.

Sardar Hussain Babak, who is also parliamentary party leader of ANP in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, said the government must get or produce vaccines for coronavirus before April 2021 and distribute it free of cost among the people through district administrations, health workers and public representatives.

He said the ANP had opposed unnecessary lockdown and closure of trade, industrial and commercial activities due to coronavirus in the country and always recommended strict implementation of SOPs and guidelines against the Covid-19 in the country.

The ANP leader also demanded that the government must announce subsidies and incentives for traders and industrial units and its workers that were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The ANP leader also opposed the closure of educational institutions in Khyber Pakht-unkhwa and other provinces.

Sardar Babak said that under article 25-A of the Constitution of Pakistan, primary education should be provided free of cost to the people while the Internet services must be ensured across the country for online education, particularly in the erstwhile tribal areas.

Similarly, the government must award scholarships, smartphones and laptops to the deserving students of colleges and universities, he said. The ANP issued a set of comprehensive policies on availability and use of coronavirus vaccination and management of impact of COVID-19 on Economy and Education.

The finalized ANP Policy on Coronavirus Vaccination, and Economy and Education were also released to the media in a press talk afterwards.

The ANP policy on Coronavirus Vaccination bases selection of vaccine keeping in mind the cost, efficacy and the applicability of vaccine in Pakistan. The storage conditions of vaccination should also be ensured while procuring and storing the vaccine as it is observed that it needs -8 to -20 temperature for storage. The ANP demands that the government should procure the vaccine earlier than April 2021 and it should be administered universally and free of cost starting with areas with higher density of COVID-19 infections. The ANP policy also states that priority vaccination be given to health workers and teachers.

The ANP policy stresses on local manufacturing of the vaccine to allow costs to go down and to ensure availability to all. However, a mechanism to oversee the manufacturing and quality control according to international standards needs to be ensured.

The ANP policy on managing the impact of COVID-19 on Economy opposes lock-downs but places strict emphasis on following SoPs. The party believes that lockdown is not an option as it has adversely impacted all segments of the society financially and requires huge resources to manage. The ANP policy also states that there should be no lock-downs for factories and construction activities while provision of subsidies to be made to small and medium enterprises.