PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira on Tuesday urged the PML-N government not to hold local bodies’ (LB) polls on non-party basis in Punjab because of its incompatibility with the charter of democracy (CoD) and its consistency with the legacy of military dictator General Ziaul Haq.
He said the nation cannot afford the re-birth of Zia which had already played havoc with the country’s destiny and is continuing unabated even today.
He warned that if the government resorted to defiance of the CoD and tried to comply with the reminiscent of the dictator then the PPP would challenge their decision not only in the court of law but also in the court of the people.
He said that the Article 140(A) of the constitution is evidently clear that all the political, administrative and financial powers shall be exercised by the elected representatives of the people.
He made it clear that the PPP would not accept non-party elections and would launch campaign against the move with a view to mobilise public opinion against the system which was clearly against the aspirations of the people and also against the genesis of the local government.
He maintained that the insistence of the PML-N to hold non-party elections was based on their well-founded apprehensions of electoral defeat due to the anti-people policies during the last two months.
The phenomenal price hike during the last two months was unprecedented which has broken the back of the people, he maintained.
He said that the PML-N should desist from fiddling with the democratic norms and endeavour to empower the people instead of giving preference of governing through a remote control.
He pointed out that the time had changed positively and therefore they should not indulge in self-defeating exercise of non-party polls as the vibrant civil society, free media and human rights organisations would not let their dream come true.
He also said that the efficient local governments were the pre-requisite for the promotion of democratic norms in a country and its anticipated stifling by them would deny the local government to play its role to groom the local leadership to assume the provincial and later on national role in the country’s politics.
