Fulfilling promises: Local govt elections in 90 days, says assembly speaker Qaisar

The party leader was appointed K-P assembly speaker by the PTI chief.

SWABI/ PESHAWAR:

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will fulfil its promise to hold local government elections within 90 days, said the party’s provincial president MPA Asad Qaiser on Saturday.

Talking to journalists in Swabi, Qaiser said huge amounts of money had gone down the drain during the tenures of previous governments. He further added the development work completed under these governments had not been up to scratch.

Asad Qaisar has been appointed as the speaker of the K-P Assembly. The decision was taken by PTI Chairman Imran Khan in a party meeting held at the Shaukat Khanam Memorial Hospital in Lahore.

“Local government elections are key to ending corruption and promoting merit-based policies,” he said, adding powers will be devolved to local departments for better governance.

The PTI leader also said the Jamaat-e-Islami, Qaumi Watan Party and Awami Jamhoori Ittehad will back the by-elections and all parties will field a joint candidate.

Qaiser claimed the PTI-led government would take solid steps to restore peace in the region and also provide health, education and jobs.



“Work on the construction of small dams will be initiated to bring an end to power outages and universities will be established in the province based on the pattern of Bahria Town,” he stated.

Qaiser went on to say the PTI’s government would take steps to restart the closed industrial units of Swabi so that youth could be provided with jobs. He pledged a women’s university and medical college for the district, adding gas supply would be ensured in remote areas. Qaiser claimed concrete measures would be taken to deal with electricity billing and load management.

Talking about the ticket allotment for NA-13, which he vacated, Qaiser said the party leadership would decide on the issue.

Meanwhile, in a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club, local leader PTI Qaiser Javaid on Saturday said the party should not give room to the Awami National Party (ANP) in the by-elections for NA-1 Peshawar-I.

Javaid asked the PTI to award him the party ticket for the by-elections, as he was a resident of NA-1 and was well-known in the constituency.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2013.