Summary Says it will be defiance of CoD by PML-N and PPP will challenged it in the court.
KARACHI, Aug 13 (Dunya News) PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira has demanded of the PML-N government not to go for Local Bodies elections on non- party basis in the province of Punjab because of its incompatibility with the Charter of democracy and its consistency with the legacy of General Zia-ul-Haq.
Nation cannot afford the re-birth of Ziaism which had already played havoc with the national destiny and heart-wrenchingly is continuing unabated even today, he pointed out in a statement.
He warned that if the Government resorted to defiance of the COD and tried to comply with the reminiscent of dictator Zia-ul-Haq 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.
Chief Minister Punjab is living up to his reputation to control the Local Bodies through DCOs and bureaucrats who would be subservient to his whims but Shahbaz Sharif‘s conduct will amount to hurting the very basis of local system badly, he added.
He said that the other two provinces were holding elections on the party basis adding that one failed to understand as why the Chief Minister Punjab was determined to juggernaut the moth-eaten system which would undermine the Political parties role in politics at all levels as well.
He made it clear that the PPP would not accept non-party elections and would launch campaign against the move with a view to mobilize 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 were based on their well-founded apprehensions of their 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 poor masses, he maintained.
He said that the Sharif Brothers should desist from fiddling with the democratic norms, and endeavor to empower the people instead of giving preference of doing governance through remote control for which they were well known.
He pointed out that the time had changed and changed positively and therefore they must not indulge in self-defeating exercise of non-Party elections as the vibrant civil society, free media and human rights organizations would not let their dream come true.
He also argued that the efficient local governments were the pre-requisite for the promotion of democratic culture 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.
