Tuesday, July 23, 2013

PPP unhappy with proposed draft bill of local bodies

LAHORE: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Information Secretary Sumsam Bokhari said on Monday that “mixing apples with oranges are not acceptable in the proposed draft bill of local bodies, being introduced in the current session of the Punjab Assembly”.

It is replica of Local Bodies Ordinance, 1979, promulgated by Zaiul Haq, he added.

He was commenting on the media reports attributed to Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullha in which he has said that the new local bodies bill would propose non-party elections at the councillor’s level and party basis at the district level.

Only remnants of Ziaul Haq could think of revival of former dictator’s local bodies system, he added.

He said that the nation could not afford the insidious consequences of Ziaul Haq’s prescription any more that had already wreaked havoc with the collective destiny of the nation because he bequeathed to people the monster of extremism, terrorism and sectarianism that had killed about 50,000 people, including women, children and elderly people and army soldiers, and still counting.

He said that the Pakistan People’s Party would not allow the Punjab government to bulldoze the legislation and would work with other political parties to oppose it all levels to thwart it.

He pointed out that the proposed legislation was also against the Charter of Democracy that envisaged party basis elections at all the tiers of the local bodies. The 18th Amendment in the constitution also makes it obligatory on the respective governments to hold elections on party basis, he said.

He also cautioned that the proposed legislation if introduced would again unleash the vile practice of horse trading with dire consequences of polluting the local politics that served as a nursery for the provincial and national leadership. They should desist from the repetition of the ugly practice for the sake of the future of democracy in the country. pr

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

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