February 17, 2007	Saturday	Muharram 28, 1428

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LAHORE, Feb 16: The sitting MPAs of the ruling PML will be retained as candidates in the next elections in Punjab, the president of the Lahore organisation said on Friday.

Mian Muhammad Munir told a news conference at the Muslim League House that the party had decided to give the ticket for PP-145 (Lahore) to Haji Imdad Husain, a seat on which his sister Rehana Jamil is MPA at present. He said the party was leaving it to the family to decide whether the sister should stay in the field or the brother should replace her.

The Lahore organisation’s secretary-general Sohail Mehmud Butt and information secretary Khwaja Tahir Zia, Mian Abdus Sattar and some others were also present at the news conference.

Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan was also supposed to be present, but he could not turn up because of his official engagements in Islamabad.

Mian Munir said the chief minister had already announced Qaiser Amin Butt as the party candidate for PP-138 (Lahore).

He said a city league had been set up in every provincial assembly constituency of Lahore. The presidents and secretaries-general and other office-bearers put together would number 1,250 who would work in close coordination to ensure victory of the party candidates.

Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi, he said, would meet the office-bearers of every constituency and listen to their problems. To enable them to have easy access to bureaucracy, the chief minister would also issue them green cards, Mian Munir said.

The PML leader believed that the ruling party would win all the seats of the metropolis. To expedite development activities in the city, the chief minister had allocated Rs 10 million to every union council, he said.

He said development works done during the past four years were much more than those done during the past several decades put together. He said voters were in a better position to judge which government had done how much for them.

He said to solve people’s problems at the earliest possible, open courts were being resumed from March 1. A schedule for them had already been worked out which would be announced during the next few days, he said.

The venue of open courts, Mian Munir said, would be decided by the chief minister.

Open courts were held at the Muslim League House every day and a minister used to listen to people’s problems. However, they were discontinued some four months ago.

Asked about the future of Monis Elahi, the Lahore PML president said for the time being he was the president of the PP-152 (Lahore).

He welcomed Mian Azhar’s decision to become active once again, and said the party would seek guidance from him on all important issues.