ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) leadership in the federal capital is planning to approach the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for removal of Islamabad Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz, saying he has “failed to resolve the civic issues”.
Addressing a press conference here, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Capital Development Authority (CDA) Ali Nawaz Awan said he, along with National Assembly members from Islamabad Raja Khurram Shehzad Nawaz and Asad Umar, will file a constitutional petition in the IHC if Sheikh Anser Aziz did not quit the top post “voluntarily”.
“We will request the court to transfer the affairs of Metropolitan Corporation of Islamabad (MCI) to the Climate Change Ministry or the CDA as the mayor and his team have turned the city into a ‘kachra kundi’ (garbage dumping site),” he said, citing the example of deteriorating condition of the Islamabad Zoo.
He said they were also considering other legal options, including moving a no-confidence move against the mayor.
“We have no personal rift with the mayor, but the citizens of capital cannot be left at his mercy,” he said, urging the union council chairmen belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to “dethrone Aziz for the sake of public welfare”.
Ali Nawaz said the MCI had collected Rs2 billion from the public on various heads, but it has not spent anything to uplift the city.
He said the previous government had announced to form a board under the Local Government Act, 2015 but it could not be constituted due to indifferent attitude of the mayor towards resolving the public issues.
The special assistant said the mayor did not hold even a single budget session since his election while the formulation of rules of business and financial regulations rules remained an elusive dream due to his slackness.
The shortage of water, he said, was a chronic problem for the capital’s residents, but no concrete effort was made by the mayor to overcome it.