May 7, 2005	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 27, 1426

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OKARA, May 6: Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal’s three political shows here addressed by the president and two prime ministers during the last one year were aimed at winning support for his younger brother Maj Zafar Iqbal (retired) for the next district nazim slot. But the ‘support from the top’ may not be enough for him to beat the powerful Shah Muqeem and Tameer-i-Watan groups which seem to be better placed in the local politics. The Rao, on the other hand, does not have a strong political base and is banking mainly on his connections at the top.

In the last year wheat harvesting, Rao hosted PM Mir Zafarullah Jamali on his Mazharabad farms in Deepalpur. In January, President Musharraf addressed a big public meeting on his invitation which was followed by a similar meeting addressed by PM Shaukat Aziz earlier this week.

Rao’s efforts did yield some major uplift projects for the district, including a cadet college, but could not brighten the chances of his brother to rule the district unless some unforeseen happens.

On May 2 Mr Aziz addressed two public meetings, one at Deepalpur and the other in Okara. The Deepalpur gathering was the sole show of the Shah Muqeem group led by PML leader Syed Afzaal Ali Shah Gillani, his son and provincial minister Raza Ali Gillani, MNA Rao Muhammad Ajmal Khan, MPA Malik Nazar Farid Khokhar, PML-Q district president and former ZC chairman Mian Moeen Khan Wattoo, former MPAs Malik Muhammad Akram Bhatti and Malik Abbas Khokhar and MNA Syed Gulzar Suttain.

Their show was quiet a success compared to the Rao Iqbal’s at Jinnah Park. It was after their show that the defence minister got upset and accused the Punjab government of not giving him free hand to bring the maximum number of people to the venue. His anger rose to a point that he slapped the Okara police chief in the presence of the PM on May 2.

The sitting district nazim, Syed Sajjad Haider, has reportedly been assured support by the chief minister and former chief minister Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo, who heads the Tameer-i-Watan group. Wattoo’s backing is conditional since he wants his son to be the next district naib nazim.