November 27, 2007	Tuesday	Ziqa’ad 16, 1428

KASUR, Nov 26: Several candidates including four former ministers filed their nomination papers before their respective returning officers here on Monday. A very tough contest is likely at NA-140 where Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has fielded former foreign minister Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali against former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-i-Azam (PML-Q).

However, a former minister belonging to PML-Q, Sardar Hassan Akhtar Mokal, has also decided to contest the elections against Mr Kasuri at this constituency as independent candidate after he was refused party ticket.

Dr. Azeemdin Lakhvi, who is son of former MNA Moeenudiin Lakhvi, will be the PML-N candidate while other candidates include Barakullah Lakhvi, Sardar Haroon Ahmed, Mian Mukhtar Ahmed and Ahtesham Elahi Zaheer.

Mr Kasuri and Mr Mokal who were sailing the same boat in the last general elections are now opposing each other tooth and nail. Mr Kasuri has recently won the favours of a prominent local leader, Sardar Ashique Javid Dogar, who accompanied him while he was filing his nomination papers.

Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan of the PML-Q, Javid Hussain Baitto of the PML-N, Sardar Muhammad Hussain Dogar of the PPP, Ch. Mukhtar Ahmed, Sardar Mushtaq, Ch. Barkat, Malik Younas, Malik Riaz, Haider Ali Chopra, Sardar Liaqat are contesting for PP-179.

Differences among PPP local leaders are visible too. It has fielded former MNA Ch. Manzoor Ahmed as candidate for NA-139, who is supporting Ch. Ashfaq Kamboh for PP-177 constituency contrary to Sardar Assef who is supporting Muzaffar Hussain Kazmi for the slot.

Kamboh lost confidence of party’s high command a number of times in last few months as compared to Kazmi who is now emphatically being favoured by Sardar Assef. However, none of them has yet been awarded the PPP ticket.

Mr Kazmi and Mr Kamboh arrived separately in groups headed by Sardar Assef and Ch Manzoor to file their nomination papers and this made the rifts more vivid.

Besides Mr Kamboh and Mr Kazmi, Maqbool Sabir Ansari of the PML-Q, Naim Safdar Ansari of the PML-N, Haji Ghulam Ahmed Ansari, Javid Tufail Gujar, Gohar Inayat Ansari, Malik Bashir Ahmed, Ayaz Ahmed Khan, Muhammad Sarwar and Balqees Basit are the other hopefuls.

PML-Q is again in troubles at NA-139 after fielding Syeda Nelofer Mahdi as its candidate. She is believed to be more close to Pervaiz Elahi instead of Mr Kasuri.

Kasur Tehsil Nazim Agha Naveed Hashim Rizvi has resigned recently to contest the elections at NA-139 as independent candidate after he was not given preference over Nelofer. Mr Rizvi is a turncoat as after winning the nazim slot with ARD’s support he defected to the PML-Q subsequently. Apparently, he is now avenging for being ignored in distribution of party tickets. Now Mr Kasuri is strongly supporting Mr Hashmi instead of party’s ticket holder Nelofar for this slot.

Sheikh Wasim Akhtar of the PML-N, Hafiz Muhammad Hanif Zafar of the JUI and Maqbool Sabir Ansari, an independent, are other aspirants at NA-139.

The PML-Q has fielded former federal minister Sardar Asif Nakai for NA-141 and the PPP has launched Ch. Noor Hussain while Rana Muhammad Ishaq is the PML-N candidate for the slot.