LAHORE – In line with the decision of the party’s Punjab executive committee, the PPP is going to hold the first local bodies’ convention on September 30, with a view to pressurising the provincial government to give the precise date of local government elections as per the Supreme Court decision.
Former district, tehsil and union nazims and councillors from across the province have been invited to attend the convention to be held at Aiwan-e-Iqbal. The participants would exhort the Punjab government to announce the schedule of the much-awaited elections to enable elected representatives to run the government at the local level.
Following the Sindh government’s decision to hold local government elections in the near future, the PPP is exerting pressure on the Punjab government to follow suit. It also plans to hold local bodies’ conventions in other cities in connection with its campaign to mobilise public opinion against the Punjab government, which is wary of the move and has termed it a ploy to delay the general elections.
It may be recalled that the Supreme Court has ordered all the provincial governments to hold local government elections at the earliest as they are due since October 19, 2009, when the local governments put in place in 2005 completed their four-year tenure.
A meeting of PPP’s Lahore Chapter, chaired by federal minister and its President Samina Khalid Ghurki, was held on Thursday to finalise the arrangements for the upcoming local bodies’ convention on September 30. General Secretary Zakria Butt, Vice-President Afnan Butt and Secretary Information Abid Hussain Siddiqui attended the meeting among others.
Speaking on the occasion, Samina Ghurki said like other provincial governments, the Punjab government should also hold local elections elections at the earliest. She added any further delay in starting the electoral process at the grossroots level would be tantamount to usurping the rights of the people, but the PPP would not let this happen.