November 27, 2007	Tuesday	Ziqa’ad 16, 1428

QUETTA, Nov 26: Ali Ahmed Kurd, advocate, the detained member of the Pakistan Bar Council, will contest elections from NA-55, NA-56 against former federal minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Rawalpindi constituencies and NA-259 in Quetta.

He is currently being held by the provincial government for 30 days in Quetta Jail under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order after he was shifted from Rawalpindi’s Adiala Prison.

Mr Kurd was brought from the Cantonment Police Station under heavy security to the office of Returning Officer Murad Ali Baloch in the Sessions Court on Monday.

Mr Kurd briefly chatted with newsmen and clarified his position that while the Pakistan Bar Council opposed the filing of nomination papers by lawyers, he was filing nomination paper on the request of former Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed.

He said he was shifted from the Jhelum Jail to Adiala on Sunday, adding that on Monday, he had filed nomination papers from NA-55 and NA-56.

He appealed to all anti-Musharraf political parties to boycott the elections to protest against the imposition of emergency and deposing of judges of the superior judiciary.

He said that contesting polls under Musharraf government by the political parties would be futile exercise as the government had already planned to rig the elections and the government would select only those candidates who supported the policies of Gen Musharraf.