MURREE: Elected local government representatives from Murree, Kotli Sattiyan and Kahuta (NA-50) have demanded that the chairmanship of the district council Rawalpindi should be given to their areas.

They said the rural areas of Murree, Kotli Sattiyan and Kahuta were the most deprived and under-developed and to bring them at a par with other parts of Rawalpindi, the chairman of the district council should be elected from these areas.

Bilal Yamin Satti has been elected as the chairman of UC Narrh for the fourth time.

His father, retired Col Yamin Satti, was member Punjab Assembly, provincial minister and then chairman district council Rawalpindi.

Bilal Yamin told this correspondent that unless the chairman of the district council was elected from Kotli Sattiyan, Kahuta and Murree, the problems of the people of the backward areas can never be resolved.

Elected representatives say district council chairman should be from the rural areas

Humayun Mushtaq Abbasi, the elected vice-chairman of UC Dewal, said the district council chairman should be from the mountainous areas.

“A person sitting in the city cannot understand the problems of these areas,” he added.

Haji Shakeel Abbasi, the chairman-elect UC Sehr Bagla, also suggested that the top district council slot should be given to the mountainous areas.

Rashid Mehmood Abbasi, the chairman-elect UC Potha, said this time the post of the district council chairman should be given to Murree.

Asad Satti, the president of the PPP youth wing Kotli Sattiyan, said about 40pc area of Kotli Sattiyan town was still deprived of electricity.

Around 80pc population of the town has no access to clean drinking water while most of the youths are jobless.

He said the PML-N had always bagged a large number of votes from the area but never gave any key governmental posts to the town.

He said the PML-N had secured a good number of seats from the town and, therefore, the chairmanship of the district should be given to Kotli Sattiyan town.

The Rawalpindi district comprises eight towns - Taxila, Gujar Khan, Potohar Town, Rawal, Kalar Syedan, Kahuta, Kotli Sattiyan and Murree.

Four towns (Murree, Kotli Sattiyan, Kahuta and Kalar Syedan) have only one National Assembly seat (NA-50) while the other four towns have six seats.

Kotli Sattiyan, Kahuta and Kalar Syedan have also been ignored in the allocation of provincial and federal ministerial slots for long.

Federal minister for petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a native of Murree, was elected member National Assembly from NA-50, Murree Kotli Sattiyan, Kahuta and some parts of Kalar Syedan while Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, another resident of Murree, was elected to the Punjab Assembly from PP-1 Murree and Kotli Sattiyan and is a provincial minister.

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the federal interior minister, is from Taxila while former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf was from Gujar Khan.

Shaukat Iqbal Janjua, the general secretary PML-N Rawalpindi district, a native of Gujar Khan, is considered a favorite candidate for the district slot.

Another candidate is Bilal Yamin Satti. Shaheen Khan is also in the field but the final decision will be taken by Chaudhry Nisar, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, provincial minister Raja Ashfaq Sarwar and other leaders of the PML-N Rawalpindi chapter.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2015