The Pakistan Peoples Party demanded the Punjab government hold local government elections on party basis in Punjab according to orders of the Supreme Court. This was demanded in a convention organised by the PPP Punjab at Aiwan-e-Iqbal on Sunday.
Addressing the convention, PPP Punjab President Imtiaz Safdar Waraich asked the Punjab government to announce a date for local bodies’ elections within 24 hours. He said the PPP had won all local bodies’ elections in the past and added the party would win all elections from every district in future if they were held on party basis.
He said the Punjab government had opened the door of corruption in the province by spending local bodies’ funds on fake projects, providing financial advantages to PML-N workers and leaders through contracts of several projects. He termed the rapid bus transit service a flop project and said that billions of rupees were being wasted for facilitating PML-N activists. “It is pre-poll rigging giving contracts of projects to PML-N workers without tenders,” he added. Warraich said the Punjab government had failed on all fronts whether it be health or education, adding that strikes by several departments’ employees including young doctors were proof of the failure of the Punjab rulers. Federal Minister and PPP Lahore President Samina Khalid Ghurki said local bodies’ representatives served people of their local communities and PPP workers were doing their jobs ethically.
She said the cause of the convention was to stress the Punjab government to transfer powers and funds to union council levels by holding local bodies’ elections on an urgent basis. State Minister for Water and Power Tasneem Qureshi also insisted that local bodies’ elections be held on party basis as it provided fresh leaders to the nation which was the need of the time. PPP leader Chaudhry Manzoor said PML-N President Nawaz Sharif and Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif were conscious about the constitution but forgot that local bodies were as important according to the constitution as parliament and provincial assemblies. He said the Sharif brothers were sympathetic towards the judiciary and ought to obey orders of the Supreme Court on local bodies’ elections.
Opposition Leader in Punjab Assembly Raja Riaz said the PPP would not allow the provincial government to avoid local bodies’ elections. MPA Sajida Meer said the PPP would protest if women representation was not included in the Punjab Assembly bill for local bodies as democracy was incomplete without the participation of women. A resolution was also presented by the PPP Lahore president to condemn the blasphemous movie which was passed by the session. PPP Punjab General Secretary Haji Aziz Ur Rehman, Information Secretary Raja Amir, former MPA Ghulam Fareed Kathia, PPP Lahore leader Afnan Butt and People’s Youth Organisation representative Babar Sohail Butt also addressed the convention.
