Saifullah urges govt to hold local bodies elections

ISLAMABAD - Urging the people to stop casting votes for corrupt leaders or politicians, President PML-Q (Likeminded) Senator Salim Saifullah on Monday said that the local bodies elections should be held in the country. He was addressing to a large gathering here at a private hotel in a launching ceremony of PML-Q (Likeminded) Secretary General Hamayun Saifullah Khans book. The Senator said that the government has been announcing to organise local bodies polls for the last three years but it was reluctant to organise these elections, as it would reveal the popularity level of the government. He said that through local bodies elections, 600 councillors were elected who proved well in administrative works but now the responsibilities of those 600 councillors have been put on the shoulders of five or six officials, which was resulting into the poor administration in the country. President PML-Q (Likeminded) further said that the incumbent Government has also failed to complete population census. Talking about the political parties election, he said that all the political parties should have a rule that elections in the party should be held to choose party President. He added that they quit Chuadhry brothers (PML-Q) as they were not willing to give party leadership to others. He lauded the efforts of Hamayun Akhtar Khan regarding the book and said that it was a debatable documents and it was necessary to bring it under discussion. Former foreign Minister who is also a central leader of Likeminded Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri on the occasion said that the need of the hour was to improve education sector in the country. Education emergency should be announced in the country- The budget of other institutions should be cut down to increase the budget of education sector. Master trainers should be hired from abroad to train our teachers, he said. He stressed that the already existed schools should be renovated rather than constructing new school while the maximum budget should be allocated in this specific sector. He added that the tolerance should be put in the mind of youth. Earlier, the writer Hamayun Akhtar Khan briefed the gathering about the book. The book Road Map to Pakistans Recovery covered 25 areas to be tackled including security, justice, education, health, youth, labour, minorities, media, terrorism, economy, energy, water, foreign policy, constitutional reforms and good governance. A number of practical solutions have been proposed in education and health sectors. Employment to one member of each family of Pakistan, both rural as well as urban, has been guaranteed. Minimum wages have been proposed for rural labourers in addition to urban labourers. Women rights and emancipation has been ensured and an end to un-just practices like wanni, swara, karokari, honour killing, domestic violence and sexual harassment has been assured. Security of minorities life and property has been assured. Media freedom has been guaranteed. The Pakistan Muslim League realizes that terrorism has reached a point where it poses a direct, long term, existential threat to Pakistan. They have proposed that causes of extremism in society should be addressed. They said that stability in the region is imperative for security and economic growth. With respect to Afghanistan they are of the view that Afghan people must make their decision themselves without any external pressure. Pakistan Muslim League has stated that double standard on the nuclear issue will not be accepted. Term of the National Assembly has been proposed to be reduced to 4 years and a new category of technocrats is to be added to the list of reserved seats in the National and Provincial assemblies to improve capacity of political parties to govern. The creation of additional provinces in Pakistan has been supported and constitutional reforms proposed to simplify the process to create new provinces. The movements for restoration of Bahawalpur province and creation of Saraiki and Hazara provinces have been supported. It has been proposed that all senior bureaucratic appointments should follow the same procedures as those of Judges, Chief Election Commissioner and Chairman NAB. Civil Services reforms have been promised. Local Government system is to be reinstated and all land records in Pakistan are to be computerised.

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