Habibullah Road: Independent panel set to challenge PML-N
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An independent panel has resolved to challenge the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the upcoming local government elections in Union Council-173 due to the absence of any other political force in the area.
The UC includes the Habibullah Road, Muslim League House, Daultana House, Mumtaz Street, Muhammad Nagar, Railway Headquarters Colony, Shadab Colony, Allama Iqbal Road, Sadiq Colony, Darbar Baghay Shah and Queen Mary College areas. The number of registered voters in the UC is 1,309. Of these, 47 per cent are women. Residents said unsafe drinking water, poor maintenance standards of roads and streets, overbilling of utility expenses, lack of streetlights and street crime as the chief problems in the area.
Rana Ikram, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s candidate for chairmanship was elected as a councillor in the 1985 local government elections held under Ziaul Haq. He is also the party’s PP-144 vice president. Ikram said quickly addressing citizens’ problems was his mission. He said he would establish free dispensaries, filtration plants and maternal and childcare facilities in the area if he was elected. Mian Ijaz, the PML-N’s candidate for the UC’s vice chairmanship, had emerged as a runner-up candidate in the 2005 local government elections.
Businessman Javed Chaudhry, an independent candidate for chairman, is in the business of washing carpets. He was elected as a naib nazim in the 2005 local government elections. Ikramul Haq, an independent candidate for the vice chairmanship of the UC, is a real estate consultant. He was elected naib nazim in the 2001 and the 2005 local government elections. The candidates said they had served citizens around-the-clock in previous tenures. They said the absence of streetlights and prevalence of street crime were major issues in the locality. The candidates said they would also repair roads, pave streets, ensure the provision of clean drinking water and install effective drainage and sewerage systems in the locality. The candidates said they would also put an end to overbilling of utility expenses.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 22nd, 2015.