Durrani hints at holding LB polls by November next

HYDERABAD: Sindh Minister for Local Government Agha Siraj Durrani said on Tuesday that he wishes to conduct the local government elections by November 2011. He was talking to reporters during a condolence visit to Sindh Fisheries Minister Zahid Bhurgari here on Tuesday.

"The local government Ordinance of 2001 was unconstitutional and an act of a military dictator," Durrani reiterated, adding that the system was obstructing the functioning of the provincial governments.

The minister maintained that the previous government at the centre used to bribe the Nazims who were issued billions of rupees in funds without any substantial development work witnessed on ground.

"As a result, not even a maternity home was built in the backward areas of Sindh during the local bodies governance," he added. In reply to a question, he said the Local Government Act of 1979 was a brainchild of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

"But dictator Ziaul Haq tampered with the law and introduced it with his certain amendments," he added. He said if the coalition partners had any reservations about the 1979 Act than the same could be discussed to create consensus on the issue.

When asked about the chances of MQM returning to the provincial and the federal governments, the minister said resignations of the MQM ministers like the Governor Sindh's had not been accepted by the government as yet. He criticized the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) terming it a creation of dictators.

"The N league should not forget that their leaders' return to Pakistan was not possible without Shaheed Benazir Bhutto's help," he said.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011