Local government: Councillors demand right to elect mayor, deputy mayor

Hundreds of protesters held a demonstration to press for their demands

MULTAN:

More than 40 elected councillors held a demonstration on Wednesday against the provincial government’s “high-handed” approach towards local bodies. They banded together under the banner of Punjab Ba Ikhtiyaar Councilors Tehreek.

The councillors and hundreds of their supporters gathered at Delhi Gate and walked towards Daulat Gate shouting slogans against the government. They held up banners and placards demanding that they be allowed to elect the mayor and deputy mayor of the district.



The councillors leading the protest said under the Punjab Local Government Act, only chairmen and vice chairmen were authorised to vote for the mayor and deputy mayor of a district. “We will not be side-lined,” Sheikh Arshad, a councillor-elect, said.

The protesters said that the local government set up was reflective of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s predilection for dynastic politics. “They want to rule from Lahore and hand us begging bowls,” Yousuf Ansari, another councillor elect, said.

The protesters said the current political set up did not reflect true democratic ideals. “It is surprising that the local government system under General Musharraf’s rule was more democratic in its essence,” Ansari said.

He urged councillors across the province to band together and demand their right to be heard. He said they wanted to create a truly democratic set up in which power devolved to the grassroots.

The protesters said if councillors in Islamabad were allowed to vote in the mayor and deputy mayor, councillors in the province should too.

The protesters said that they would form a coalition against the provincial government and demand that they be empowered in a true democratic sense.

Talking to journalists, several councillors said even Musharraf, a dictator, had tried to devolve power to the grassroots. “Why can’t this so-called democratically elected government do the same?”

The councillors under the Punjab Ba Ikhtiyaar Councilors Tehreek banner have said that they will expand their movement across the province. They said that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid have promised to support them in their protests. They said they were also in talks with Pakistan Peoples Party leaders in this regard.

Councillors across the province will take oath on Thursday (today).

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2016.