LG representatives announce province-wide protests

Local government representatives in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have decided to take to the streets to protest the denial of administrative powers, non-release of funds and other unresolved issues. The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Local Councils Association (LCA) has announced a phased protest schedule across the province.

According to the schedule, protests will be held at the tehsil council level throughout the province on December 19. This will be followed by a peaceful demonstration outside Parliament House in Islamabad on December 23, along with a press conference at the National Press Club. A major protest sit-in has also been announced outside the K-P Assembly in Peshawar on January 5.

The decisions were taken during a consultative meeting of the Local Councils Association, chaired by its president and Mayor of Mardan, Himayatullah Mayar. Mayors, chairmen of tehsil, village and neighbourhood councils, members and women members from various districts of the province attended the meeting.

Addressing the meeting, speakers said that due to continued neglect and what they termed unjust treatment during three tenures of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the local government system in K-P has remained virtually paralysed for the past nearly four years, eroding public confidence in grassroots governance.

President of the Local Councils Association and Mayor of Mardan, Himayatullah Mayar, said that while the provincial government speaks of merit and justice at the federal level, it has subjected more than 29,000 elected representatives in the province to discrimination and injustice.

Following detailed deliberations, Mayar issued a formal declaration announcing that protest meetings and peaceful demonstrations would be held in all tehsils of the province on December 19.