June 23, 2007	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 07, 1428

OKARA, June 22: Police on Friday uprooted camps set up by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to welcome Supreme Court Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on his way to Multan today (Saturday).

PPP leader and former provincial minister Rana Ikram Rabbani set up a welcome camp in Sikandar Chowk because the chief justice is scheduled to pass from there to reach the Okara District Bar Association. But the police uprooted the camp on Friday afternoon.

Similarly, the police uprooted a welcome camp set up by PML-N Punjab Joint-Secretary Mian Muhammad Munir.

Later, PPP and PML-N activists protested against this act of the police and vowed to welcome the chief justice at all costs.

MMA PROTEST: Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) workers took out a rally here on Friday to condemn the British government for conferring knighthood on Salman Rushdie.

MMA leaders Dr Liaqat Ali, Sheikh Farooq, Haji Ihsanul Haq and Hafiz Abdul Sami led the rally, which was taken out from Gole Chowk Masjid after Friday prayers.

The protesters demanded that Pakistan cut ties with the British government until it withdraws the title conferred on Rushdie and apologises to the Muslim world for honouring the controversial writer.

ANTI-TMA DEMO: Hundreds of residents of Faisal Park staged a protest demonstration against the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) in front of the Okara Press Club.

Protesters said the TMA had been ignoring sewerage and cleanliness in their area for the last several months. They asked Tehsil Nazim Rao Jamil Akhtar to visit their area and see hundreds of families living with a collapsed sewerage system and poor hygiene conditions.