April 24, 2006	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 25, 1427

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LAHORE, April 23: Three ruling party MPAs from Pakpattan continue to get raw deal from the PML leadership mainly for opposing chief minister’s nominees during the last local government elections.

With the chief minister’s camp in Arifwala set to dislodge the tehsil nazim Naveed Tariq, MPAs Ata Maneka, Farrukh Javed and Ch Javed Ahmad have sought the intervention of the president to thwart the ‘inevitable’, it is learnt.

On the ‘president’s advice’, the MPs reportedly met PML chief Ch Shujaat Hussain here on Sunday but failed to get any assurance that their man would remain in saddle.

The MPAs have already threatened to quit their seats if the tehsil nazim, ‘crippled’ by the provincial and district bureaucracy, was removed.

Reports from Arifwala suggest that Raja Saeed Khan, chief minister’s nominee who lost tehsil nazim election to Naveed Tariq, has gained majority in the house.

Since Tariq’s assuming the office, the Arifwala municipal administration has not been able get a single monetary bill or motion passed because of defections. As the budget has not been passed, employees face problems in getting their salaries.

Saeed Khan, son of former minister of state Raja Shahid Saeed, claims the support of 32 in the 44-member house.

In a statement on Saturday, Ata Maneka said that if official efforts to remove Naveed

Tariq did not stop, they would quit.

He said the chief minister had taken wrong decisions while nominating candidates for top slots in the district. “CM’s actions will hurt the ruling party in the next general elections,” he warned.

The MPs, it is learnt, have been trying in vain to meet the chief minister to remove ‘misgivings’.

Also a former PML MPA, tehsil nazim Naveed Tariq is the brother of Farrukh Javed.