ISLAMABAD: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police have issued JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazl Rehman a security notice asking him to minimise the political activities and avoid unnecessary movements.
A notice issued by the DI Khan District Police Officer (DPO) ASKED Maulana Fazl to keep his all political gatherings and programmes secret in order to avoid any misadventure. The police have also advised Maulana Fazl to increase the security of his residence in DI Khan.
It is pertinent to mention that Maulana Fazl Rehman in past has survived many life attacks and the latest one was when he narrowly survived a bomb blast attack in Balochistan in 2014 when he was on his way back to home from public Jalsa.
While commenting on the issue, JUI-F senior leader Haji Ghulam Ali said that it was the duty of the government to provide enough security to Maulana Fazl Rehman in order to avoid any possible threat to his life.
He stated that the government had reduced his security recently which was beyond the thinking; adding that the government would be responsible if Maulana Fazl Rehman was harmed.
On the other hand the Jamiat uema e Islam (JUI-F) Chief on Sunday claimed that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was ousted and disqualified and ex-president Asif Ali Zardari was jailed in order to spoil CPEC.
While addressing the “Protection of constitution of Pakistan convention” here in Islamabad Maulana Fazl said that those who were fighting for the basic rights of the masses in Pakistan have been declared traitors; adding that the wave of sense of deprivation can only be eradicated through obeying the constitution of Pakistan.
Lashing out at the incumbent government he said that due to the failed policies of the government, the economy of the country was sinking and the investments of the people were unsafe as the government had no plan to uplift the economy of the country.
He stated that the forces that stopped the Pakistan-Iran gas pipe line must be exposed to the nation; saying that the country was going in completely wrong direction and the incumbent government was responsible for it.
Talking about the government’s intention to try him under article 6, Maulana said that he felt ashamed while talking about this intention of the government; adding that they can not make him afraid by using such tactics.
While commenting on the Afghan Peace accord, he said that a peaceful Afghanistan has always been a wish of the people of Pakistan and a peaceful Afghanistan was very important for a peaceful Pakistan.
Maulana Fazl while lambasting at the foreign policy of Pakistan said that the foreign policy of the incumbent government was not an affective one and this was the reason that they had no courage to speak up against the Modi’s brutalities in India against the Muslim citizens of India.
It is important to mention that the JUI-F Chief had distanced his party from the opposition parties’ alliance led by PML-N and PPP and a new alliance of six parties was formed to stage anti-government protests
Fazalur Rehman had issues with both PML-N and the PPP over their lack of support in Azadi March. The decision comes after reconciliatory politics from both the major political parties of the country.
The new alliance includes JUI-F, National Party, Jamaat Ahl-e-Hadees, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman has decided to launch another protest movement against the incumbent government without the support of PML-N and PPP.
Delay in KP Local Bodies Election
The pace of development in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is likely to remain sluggish as the KP-government is reluctant to hold Local Body Elections and utilise the Annual Development Funds of Rs 46 billion allocated for districts to be spent by local government.
These funds are to be spent through the local governments but the delay in holding the LG election has put a question mark on the future of these funds.
The ruling party Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) after missing the constitutional deadline is still reluctant to conduct local government elections in provinces as apparently it faces many challenges.
The PTI has already missed the constitutional deadline for holding the LG elections within 120 days. As section-219 (4) of the Elections Act 2017 states that the fresh elections for new local government representatives must be conducted within 120 days after the expiry of the previous term.
The previous local governments completed their term on August 28 and the government is yet to fulfil its responsibility by holding the LG elections on time.
On other hand, Khyber Pakhtunkhewa laws related to Local Government passed by provincial assembly have been challenged by the opposition in Peshawar High Court. However, the prime minister’s political aides are confident to get the issue mutually resolved by engaging the opposition parties in fruitful talks.
The opposition in KP Assembly has also raised finger over the amendment in Local Government Act 2013 as unlike the 2015 local bodies, the new setup will have two tiers of government (Tehsil/Town Councils and the Village/Neighbourhood Councils) as the district council has been revoked.
However, sources in the ECP told us that the elections are unlikely to be held soon due to the lengthy delimitation process and besides this the government is using delaying tactics fearing defeat in elections.
The sources further said that the ruling party had failed to deliver what it had promised with the people of Pakistan and it was one of the reasons that they were dragging their feet from holding the LG elections. The sources revealed that if the ruling party dared to hold LG elections then they would surely lose the real mandate and it would greatly affect their dominance on other parties in KP and Punjab.
The sources further revealed that ECP has held several meetings with the provinces to expedite the election process as soon as possible; adding that ECP will not be able to hold LG elections due to alleged delaying tactics of the incumbent government.
The sources privy to the KP-government said that district administration will utilise LG funds in the absence of local bodies but the question arise, how, as district administration or DC’s cannot spent these funds as it is against the LG rules.
According to LG officials the revoking of district council was to transfer the power to the lowest level and make the common masses more powerful and politically aware.
Meanwhile, the government is also facing issues with classifying the tehsil councils into urban and rural categories. Furthermore, financial constraints of the government, at both provincial and federal levels, are also said to be among the factors forcing the delay.
Unlike the 2015 local bodies, in which the local government system had three tiers, the coming setup will be comprise of two tiers of government (Tehsil/Town Councils and the Village/Neighborhood Councils). The KP government drastically amended the KP Local Government Act 2013 and the district tier, which was the most powerful, was abolished.
The 35 districts of KP, including the merged tribal districts comprise 4,203 village/neighbourhood councils.
The officials of Local government are of view that the purpose of revoking the district tier was to delegate powers to lower levels in an actual sense, but we have to wait for the time and see will the new system work or not. For now it appears that the administrative setup at the tehsil level is not as strong as the one operating at the district level.