ISLAMABAD: The oath-taking ceremony of the members-elect of the Islamabad Capital Territory local government was mired in controversy after the majority of the oath-takers objected to the oath being administered in English.

The ceremony was held at the Convention Centre, and 640 newly elected representatives, including 50 chairmen and vice chairmen and over 400 councillors took oath, which was administered by district and sessions judges Mohammad Bashir and Nisar Baig.

After the chairmen and vice chairmen hadtaken oath, Mr Baig began reading the first paragraph of the oath, at which point a councillor-elect objected to the oath being administered in English.

He said the oath should be taken in the national language, since the Supreme Court had ruled that Urdu should be used in official matters. Nearly all the other councillors endorsed the objection and thumped their desks.

Mr Baig accepted that their demand was genuine, but said he was given a copy of the oath in English and so it would not be possible for him to administer the oath in Urdu.

He added that, for the councillors` convenience, he would read the sentences slowly.`The majority of councillors, including myself, are uneducated. Honestly spealcing I don`t know what the judge was reading.

However, being a law abiding citizen, I will follow all the rules and regulations and will try my best to deliver,` a councillor-elect said, on condition of anonymity.

Newly elected chairman Advocate Naeem Gujjar said that, according to the Constitution, both English and Urdu are official languages.

He added that, in light of the Supreme Court judgement which stated that official correspondence should be carried out in Urdu the oath should have been taken in the national language.

`The majority of councillors are less edu-cated or uneducated. What they were reading while taking the oath was beyond their comprehension,` he said. He said that several chairmen and vice chairmen also had difficulty reading the oath, let along understanding it.

Labour councillor-elected from union council (UC) 30, Syed Arman Haider Naqvi, said the oath should be taken in Urdu. `It was difficult for us to understand the essence of the oath,` he said. UC 29 vice chairman Seemi Ezdi also said the oath should have been taken in Urdu.

Following the oath taking ceremony, the first phase of the local government elections has been completed.