PESHAWAR: The councillors from both the treasury and opposition benches in the district council here on Tuesday staged a walkout to protest the poor performance of police and misuse of power by them.

The councillors also came down hard on the education department and Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP) for their poor performance and said that they were making life of people miserable.

The session of the district council was chaired by naib nazim Syed Qasim Ali Shah. Soon after start of the session, councillor Sher Rehman took the floor and began castigating the city police for misuse of power. He said that officials of Agha Mir Jani Shah police station tortured some people of his area for no reason.

He said when he protested against misuse of power by police, they registered an FIR against him. In his tirade against police, the councillors chanted slogans against police.

Councillors flay education dept for not providing furniture to schools

Gul Bashar, another councillor, said that officials of Tehkal police station registered FIR against him for celebratory firing during a wedding ceremony.

“I was attending a marriage ceremony in my area where some people fired gunshots in the air but police registered FIR against me,” he said. He said that he knocked at the door of several officials for justice but in vain.

Chanting slogans against police, all members of the house walked out of the session. The proceeding of the council remained suspended for some time.

However, they joined the session when the chair requested some of the councillors to persuade and bring them back.

Noor Wali Khalil said that terrorists attacked Agriculture Training Institute owing to negligence of police. Nine persons were killed and 28 injured in the attack.

He criticised SSP Operation Sajjad Khan and said that he was seen smoking on social media during the operation against the militants. “Tell me, had the SSP gone to the place of occurrence in tracksuit to ensure safety of the people taken hostage by the militants or for smoking there,” he questioned.

Taqdeer Ali Khan said that WSSP increased the water bills without any justification. He rejected increase in water bills from Rs900 to Rs1,800 for six months. He threatened to besiege the district council hall if WSSP failed to withdraw increase in the water bills within two days.

Mr Khan requested the councillors to join him in the protest. Many councillors left their chairs and sat for some time in the middle of the house with him to protest against WSSP. They also chanted slogans against WSSP.

Gul Afzal Khan criticised district nazim Mohammad Asim Khan for not attending the session. He said that education department and district administration failed to provide furniture to government schools owing to which students were sitting on the floor.

Advocate Syed Zahir, the leader of the opposition in the house, also criticised WSSP for 100 per cent increase in the water bills, saying that people should not pay the bills as it was injustice with them.

The chair adjourned the session till Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2017