LAHORE, Feb 4: District Council members having affiliation with the Pakistan People’s Party, N and Q factions of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) were unanimous in condemning the ongoing propaganda against the local government system and character assassination of nazims by the provincial government besides interference of MPAs in development projects.

District Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood called it unfair to level corruption charges against nazims on the basis of preliminary audit observations.

“Not even a single nazim is against the audit but it should be conducted in a transparent manner and no one should be victimised. The allegations levelled in the special audit reports are against government functionaries and no adverse observation is against any nazim. However, Punjab local government minister Dost Muhammad Khosa said during a recent news conference that the allegations mentioned in the advertisement were generalised and no one was named in it.”

The special audit report would be presented in the district council meeting that would decide its future,” declared Mian Amer.

District Naib Nazim Mian Idrees Haneef, who was in the chair, announced that the special audit report would be handed over to the finance committee of the house that would scrutinise it.

Earlier, the meeting offered fateha for journalist Rooman Ehsan, father of UC-86 Nazim M Munir Malik and PPP leader Malik Shahid Imtiaz.

The meting first took up the seven-item agenda of the first session that included approval of the proceedings of the council meetings held on March 15, 2008, and July 23, 2008, adjustment of Rs220,118 in the 2006-07 budget under the head of salary and non-salary, changing the nomenclature of five posts of medical officers at Mian Munshi DHQ-I Hospital, creation of new posts in the office of district education office and for collection of professional tax at the district excise and taxation office, regularisation of the expenditure incurred on the rationalisation of adjustment of 10 teachers and 15 per cent special relief allowance for 2003-04.

Shabnam Shahzadi Butt said that the resolution, enhancing the honorarium of women members to Rs10,000 a month had been rejected by the provincial finance department. “It is a breach of privilege of this august house consisting of elected representatives of the masses and the council should take note of it,” she added while threatening to protest if the decision was not implemented.

She urged the house to condemn in strongest words the step of the Punjab government which she said was one-sided. Her remarks made the PML-N members raise slogans in favour of Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif. PML-Q members also started raising slogans in favour of Mian Amer Mahmood that led to rumpus in the meeting.

Sameen Irfan proposed that the members should focus their energies on solving the problems of masses instead of merely raising slogans.

Nazeer Khan Swati suggested that a house committee consisting of members from all political parties should be constituted with the mandate to conduct audit of every union council.

Fareeda Sandal said the district council meeting should be convened every month. She said the delay in convening the council meeting was anti-democratic measures of the champions of democracy.

Haji Zahoor’s remarks that Punjab chief minister wanted a corruption-free country again resulted in rumpus and many PML-Q and PPP members gathered around the rostrum, raising slogans in favour of their leaders.

Mian Haris Saleem was critical of the behaviour of the district council members and asked them to shun their petty differences in the wake of the present situation in the country and join hands against the bureaucracy who were out to destabilise the local government system.

Main Amer told reporters after leading a rally in favour of the people of occupied Kashmir and Gaza that he was not against accountability, but bureaucracy was against the local government system and they should be held accountable for their mala fide intentions.

“If President Asif Ali Zardari convenes a meeting on local government system and invites us, we will go,” he added.

Shahdara: The district council on Wednesday opposed the exclusion of Shahdara from Lahore district, through a unanimous resolution which also demanded that the locality should be declared cattle-free zone.

Union Council 8 Nazim Hamid Husain Khan said in the resolution that instead of making a new administrative unit under the name of Ravi district, a new town should be made of Shahdara.