LAHORE, Sept 10: The Punjab government, it seems, has turned a blind eye to the activities of Lahore district Nazim Mian Amir Mahmood who is campaigning aggressively for the PML-QA.
Though Mian Amir has never tried to conceal his affiliation with the ‘King’s party’, he demonstrated it openly at the time of the by-election of the Ravi Town Nazim. The seat had fallen vacant after the murder of the PML-N’s Aftab Asghar Dar in July.
He openly supported PML-QA candidate Qaiser Amin Butt, who was elected, and attended his election meetings, seeking vote for him.
His support for the party became more open with the announcement of the general elections. Even the instructions by the president to all the provincial governors to remain impartial during the election appear to have no effect on him. He has been showing his partiality in public meetings and press statements.
On some occasions reporters had asked him about his conduct and he had always replied that only the local governments were the non-political institutions and not the people sitting in them.
He spoke at the first public gathering of the party which its head Mian Azhar had held at his Santnagar residence and since then there is no stopping him.
He even sought vote for people he is supporting at a public meeting also addressed by Governor Khalid Maqbool in Gajjumatta on the Ferozepur Road where he launched the Lahore Ring Road project. However, the governor has conveniently ignored the violation.
Mian Amir addressed PML-QA meetings even at the Muslim League House which were presided over by Mian Azhar. On Tuesday, he announced opening of a girls college at Shahdara from where Mian Azhar is contesting election to a National Assembly seat.
A Press release issued by Mian Amer’s office says he has told his officers to prepare a plan to lay a tough-tile pavement for pedestrians who enter Lahore from Shahdara.
The area had earlier attracted his attention during the election of Qaiser Butt. He paid several visits to the area to ensure implementation of development projects there.
WARNING: Mian Amir is indulging in political activities despite the provincial local government minister’s warning that any Nazim taking part in any political activity is liable to be dismissed. At a press conference two months ago, minister Hamid Saeed had stated that under the local government law Nazims had given an undertaking that they did not belong to any political party and that they would not take part in any political activity.
Theoretically, Amir does not belong to any political party as required by the local government law. He was elected first Nazim of the Lahore district last year. Despite the fact that the elections were held on non-party basis, almost all political parties had fielded their candidates in the elections. He was the nominee of the PML-QA which was called the PML like-minded at that time.
The newly-introduced local government laws also bar Nazims from indulging in political activities.
This restriction has been imposed on the Nazims because they are supposed to act as administrative heads of the district in place of the defunct deputy commissioners. They are supposed to remain impartial while dealing with the affairs in their respective areas of jurisdiction.
Being a Nazim, Mian Amir has the powers to impose Section 144 to disallow any activity considered unwarranted by the government, to approve development projects, allocate funds for them, and, above all, grant permission to the parties to hold public meetings at specified places.
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