- Demand meeting with Hamza Shehbaz to solve their problems
LAHORE: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), that is already passing through a series of crises for past couple of months, will have to face another blow as local bodies’ (LB) councillors have announced to hold a protest demonstration outside the Punjab Assembly on Friday.
According to the details, hundreds of councillors directly elected from Lahore will hold a sit-in against the government, for not transferring powers to the people’s representatives, under the banner of ‘Councillors Unity Lahore’ and they have also announced to give resignations in protest if their demands are not met.
Councillors Unity Lahore (CUL) General Secretary Yaseen Khan said on Thursday that they will no longer hold any negotiations with Lahore Mayor Colonel (retd) Malik Mubashar Javed as according to them, he has been made hostage by the union councils’ chairmen, and holding meetings with him would be a futile exercise.
The office bearers of CUL said that they would only hold meetings with Member National Assembly Hamza Shehbaz Sharif – the son of Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif – as only he can guarantee them their powers.
The councillors from Lahore have demanded their inclusion in the process of budget making of the union councils, while also demanding to amend the Local Bodies Act of 2013 in order to make it binding on the government departments to address the complaints of masses through these councillors, who are the real representatives of the people.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Mohsin Asif Butt, a local government councillor of UC-224, said that the local bodies’ system introduced by the former military dictator Pervez Musharraf was much better than the current system of a democratic government as we are toothless in the current set-up while local body representatives had more powers during the Musharaf regime.
“I am unable to apprehend that why the government is not paying any heed towards the concerns of the councillors, keeping in view that the general elections are just around the corner and government is already facing severe problems these days, and Dr Tahirul Qadri has also announced to launch a protest movement against the government,” the dejected councillor said.
He further added that the councillors are right now not in a position to convince the people to vote for PML-N as these councillors did nothing for the people in their respective areas during last two years because of being powerless.
“There are around three thousand councillors in Lahore and over 1,700 councillors are part of our association who are demanding their due rights from the government,” he said, while adding that these councillors would play an important role in the next elections as they know each and every voter very well at the union council level.
The CUL has given a 17-point charter of demands to the government that includes a provision of offices to councillors at UC level, authority to check the rate list of essential commodities in their areas and a mandate to entitle them to visit the public sector hospitals for their voters.
It is worth mentioning here that vice chairmen from all the 36 districts of Punjab have also made such demands from the government in the past and also threatened to give resignations in protest.
