Altaf Hamid Rao.
Mirpur(AJK), (Parliament Times) : Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan while reiterating his government’s commitment regarding the devolution of power to grassroots level has said that the local body elections will be as per the scheduled time.
He expressed these views while speaking as a special guest at a function organized by Central Senior Vice President of PTI Chaudhry Zafar Anwar here on Monday.
The function, which was presided over by Minister of Energy and Water Resources Chaudhry Arshad Hussain was attended band addressed by Chaudhry Yasir Sultan, Senior Vice President of PTI Azad Kashmir Chaudhry Zafar Anwar, where as the PTI leaders Chaudhry Javed Iqbal, Chaudhry Muhammad Arif, Sikandar Baig, Chaudhry Mushtaq and others were present on the occasion. “The leaders of the opposition parties wanted to hold the LG polls on a non-party basis but PTI leadership decided to hold local elections on party basis in accordance with the vision of the party chairman Imran Khan”, the PM said adding that the PTI wanted to transfer the power to the grassroots level. He said that the elections will not be postponed under any circumstances saying that the polls being held after a long time would change the entire political landscape of the liberated territory. He said that holding the LG polls was his dream and he would leave no stone unturned to get it fulfilled. The PM said that he appreciates every candidate/contestant who believes in holding of LG polls and decentralization/devolution of power.
Regarding the opposition parties’ see sawing policy on the issue the PM said that their own candidates have now raised the banner of revolt against the party leadership who want to postpone the elections over lame excuses. “During the past one week, 64 candidates of PPP have returned their tickets to the party leadership and joined the PTI”, the PM said adding that the opposition candidates not only expressed their dismay over their party leadership’s role but also realized the fact that their party leaders were not interested in devolution of power.He said that those who were trying to postpone the local elections were not sincere to the people