MIAN ABRAR
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday approved names for the ruling party’s candidates for mayoral slots of various cities of Punjab.
The decisions, overdue for the last one year after the local bodies’ elections, were taken at a high level meeting held here at the Prime Minister’s House and attended by various political heavyweights of the PML-N Punjab chapter.
Top political bigwigs of the PML-N Punjab briefed the prime minister about the elections of mayors and deputy mayors after the local bodies’ elections in the province. A well-placed source told Pakistan Today that most of the nominations were made on the recommendations of the Punjab government. “During the meeting, the prime minister approved names of the party’s candidates for Rawalpindi, Multan, Faisalabad, Lahore and other major cities,” the source added.
The source said that most of the decisions were taken on the recommendations by Hamza Shehbaz Sharif, son of Punjab chief minister.
“For Rawalpindi, the PM has approved the name of veteran party leader Sardar Naseem out of five hopefuls. However, the final decision would be announced by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan,” the source added.
The source said that the decision had been made on the recommendation of Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan while the mayor of Islamabad has already been elected. Sardar Naseem was facing a tough challenge from fellow party colleagues Shaikh Arsalan, Malik Sajjad and two others. However, Sardar Naseem won the nomination, the source added.
The source added that the decision for the slot of Rawalpindi District Council Chairman would be taken in today’s (Wednesday) meeting to be held at the Punjab House which would be chaired by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
The source said that former Lahore mayor Khwaja Ahmed Hassan, failed to win the party’s nomination for Lahore’s lord mayor slot and now two candidates had been left in the field.
“Colonel (retd) Mubashar and Rabia Farooqi have been left in the field. Final decision would be announced by Hamza Shehbaz Sharif after interviewing both the candidates today in Lahore,” the source added.
The source said that Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah had been empowered to decide the new mayor for Faisalabad while the name for Faisalabad District Council would be decided later. The meeting also decided that Deewan Ghulam Abbas would be the chairman of District Council Multan while the decision for mayoral slot would be taken later.
The PM said that the democracy could not flourish without well-functional local bodies. ‘Local bodies also serve as nurseries for providing trained and well-versed leadership at the provincial level and later at the national level, he stated.
The meeting was attended Khwaja Muhammad Asif, Minister for Defence, Ch Nisar Ali Khan, Minister for Interior, Mr Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister for Petroleum, Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Planning, Khwaja Saad Rafique, Minister for Railway, Pervez Rashid, Senator, Dr Asif Kirmani, SAPM, Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, MNA, Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, Minister for Labour, Punjab, Rana Sanaullah Khan, Minister for Law Punjab, Malik Nadeem Kamran, Minister for P&D, Punjab, Manshaullah Butt, Minister for Local Govt, Punjab, Saud Majeed, Senator, Mehar Ishtiaq Ahmed, MNA, Muhammad Pervez Malik, MNA, Samiullah Khan.