February 27, 2007	Tuesday	Safar 9, 1428

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GUJRANWALA, Feb 26: A judicial magistrate issued the warrants for the arrest of nine leaders of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, including its chief Qazi Husain Ahmad, here on Monday.

According to the prosecution, MMA central president Qazi Husain Ahmad, Punjab general secretary Azhar Iqbal Hasan, MNA Qazi Hamidullah, district president Bilal Qudrat Butt, vice-president Saeed Khokhar, Idris Ayub, former nazim of Jamaat-i-Islami Hamiduddin Awan, Shabab Milli activists Athar Khan and Furqan Butt, etc, took out a protest rally against the government on September 30, 2006, and blocking the GT road. Police registered cases against 1,000 people while 78 of them were arrested.

The magistrate ordered police to produce the accused on next hearing on March 27 after arresting them.

The magistrate rejected the plea of prosecution for declaring them proclaimed offenders.

TEACHERS PROTESTS: The Muttahida Mahaz Asataza on Monday announced the launch of second phase of protest against the government for not giving them teaching allowance and accepting other demands.

A Mahaz’s meeting decided that the first protest meeting would be held at the Government High School, Dhaunkel, on March 15.

Mahaz leaders said in the first phase almost all teachers had sent memorandums to the president, prime minister and Punjab chief minister regarding their demands and urged them to accept their charter of demand.

They demanded that contract system and political interference in the educational institutions should be ended while all their genuine demands, including the payment of teaching allowance, should be accepted. They said protest meetings would be held in every town of the district.