‘No hanky-panky’: District council majority swept from under PPP rug

Rahim Yar Khan was the only district where the PPP was the biggest party in the house

BAHAWALPUR:

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz is sure to clinch the top slots in the Rahim Yar Khan district council, MNA Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar and MPAs Mian Imtiaz Ahmad, Sheikh Fayyazuddin, Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht and Chaudhry Mehmoodul Hassan Cheema said at a press conference on Monday.

They said of the 31 elected chairmen who had run as independents, 27 had joined the PML-N bringing the total number of PML-N’s members in the district council to 70.  The total number of seats on the district council is 139. “We have a majority in the house now and will elect a district council chairman of our choosing.”

Bakhtiar said the 27 new members had signed the PML-N membership forms. These records were also sent to the district returning officer and the election commission. “Unlike Makhdoom Ahmad Mehmood of the Pakistan Peoples Party, we never offered to treat any new members to dinner,” he quipped. “We have presented proof of a majority to the media and the election commission.”

Some of the PPP’s elected chairmen had resigned and joined the PML-N, he said. “This does not count as horse-trading.” He said the PML-N had not stolen the people’s mandate nor had it forced anyone to join them.



In response to a question, Bakhtiar said there were rumours that the PPP was considering changing its candidate for district council chair. “If our candidate Makhdoom Ashfaq Ahmad loses the election, we believe he will be a forceful leader of the Opposition.” He said Makhdoom Ashfaq Ahmad was a candidate on a technocrat seat.

Separately, former governor Makhdoom Syed Ahmad Mehmood said that the PML-N’s local leaders had resorted to lame tactics in gaining support for the district council. “The people of Bahawalpur are set against this politics of terror and force and have complete faith in the PPP.”

He said this at a meeting with chairman-elect Muhammad Saqib Rehmani at his house in Union Council 61, Mianwali Sheikhaan.

Mehmood said it was the responsibility of candidates elected by the people to promote clean politics in Rahim Yar Khan and for which they should strengthen the hands of People’s Party and play their role in the development of District.

In an interview with Daily Express on Monday, Mehmood said that three chairmen who had contested elections on PPP seats had been forced to resign. “They have gone missing and we fear that they might have been abducted.” He said that the missing former chairmen were Saqib Rehmani, Dur-i-Muhammad Mastoi and Rab Nawaz Bahola.

Mehmood said that the relatives and the union council vice-chairmen and councillors were still looking for them. “They were first offered millions of rupees to back off and were later made to resign under duress.” He said the rulers in Lahore claimed that they were champions of democracy but were in fact violating their own charter of democracy. “This will only harden the hearts of our people against Lahore.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th,  2016.