PESHAWAR: Elected members of local bodies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday postponed plans to stage street protests and blocl< major arteries across the province after local government minister Arshed Ayub promised them an early resolution of issues and a meeting with the chief minister.

They met with the minister and secretary and highlighted all their problems in detail, according to Local Council Association president Himayat Mayar.

`The local government minister has promised to ensure our meeting with the chief minister on Feb 18 to enable us to take up all our grievances with him for corrective measures,` Mr Mayar said in a video message following a meeting with Mr Ayub and the local government secretary here.

He warned that if the meeting with the chief minister didn`t bear fruit,local body members wouldannounce another date for street protests and road closures. The local body representatives had planned to protest outside the provincial assembly building on Feb 17 and block highways and major roads across the province onFeb25.

In the message, the LCA leader, who is also the mayor of Mardan city, said the LG minister promised the approval of the rules of business in the upcoming cabinet meeting, which was one of their demands.

He said that the minister would arrange a meeting of the council members with the chief minister on Feb 18, promising the immediate issuance of orders for law amendments to extend their tenure for three years.

The LB members had demanded another term, insisting funding denial by the provincial government wasted their earlier three-year tenure.

The minister also accepted their proposal to withdraw the decision to use local body funds through MNAs and MPAs in the merged tribal districts, according to Mr Mayar.