February 03, 2008	Sunday	Muharram 24, 1429

TOBA TEK SINGH, Feb 2: The Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) staffers allegedly took away bricks and other building material from outside an under-construction house of PML-N local leader Mian Sarfraz Hussain after loading it on a trolley in what the PML-N called ‘a unique way to avenge political rivalry’.

A PML-N official told reporters that Hussain was opposing Tehsil Nazim Mian Javed Iqbal’s nephew and PML-Q candidate for NA-93 Mian Kashif Ashfaq and to avenge this opposition, the TMA staffers loaded bricks and other construction material from outside his house on an official vehicle and fled despite Hussain had fulfilled all legal requirements and had paid debris fee to the TMA contractor.

MSF-N CONVENTION: Punjab Muslim Students Federation-Nawaz (MSF-N) president Tahir Mahmood Gujjar has said that MSF-N activists would remain present outside polling stations on Feb 18 to prevent the PML-Q from rigging the elections.

Speaking at MSF-N district convention held at a local hotel here on Saturday, Gujjar said that the PML-Q was a “gang of opportunists”, which would be dismantled after the Feb 18 elections.

The MSF-N president also condemned the fresh detention of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan and former president Justice Tariq Mahmood (retired) terming the government’s action “unlawful”.

PML-N candidates for NA-93 Mian Junaid Anwaar, PP-86 Chaudhry Amjad Ali Javed, PP-87 Sardar Ayub Gadhi and PP-90 Mian Muhammad Rafiq and District MSF-N president Qaiser Mahmood Arshad also spoke on the occasion. They said that if voted to power, the PML-N government would reinstate all the deposed judges of superior courts who had not taken oath under the Nov 3 Provisional Constitution Order (PCO).

LOADSHEDDING: Hundreds of workers of industrial units, power looms, shoe factories and wooden saw machines took out a protest procession on Saturday over prolonged electricity loadshedding being carried out by the Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (Fesco).

The protesters started their demonstration from Factory Area and after marching on Shorkot Road, Jhang Road and Gojra Road reached Fesco offices where they shouted slogans against loadshedding and demanded uninterrupted power supply to their units.

Speaking on the occasion, some workers said that the power loadshedding had rendered many of their colleagues jobless and the remaining were also earning nothing for the past two months.

They warned that if the situation continued, they would be compelled to stage a sit-in along with their families in front of Fesco offices on a daily-basis.

DBA: The members of the District Bar Association (DBA) observed one-hour token strike on Saturday on the call of Pakistan Bar council to press the government for restoration of pre-PCO judiciary.

A DBA meeting chaired by president Mian Shoaib Muhammad also held at the bar office where participants condemned the fresh detention of SCBA President Aitzaz Ahsan and former president Justice Tariq Mahmood (retired). The strike was also observed in Kamalia and Gojra.

ACCIDENT: A tractor-trolley driver was killed when his trolley laden with sugar cane overturned after being hit by another truck near Chak 319-JB on Gojra-Toba Road on Saturday.

Shafiq was carrying the trolley from Gojra to Toba. When he reached near Chak 319, a truck hit the trolley as a result of which the trolley overturned and Shafiq got buried under the cane debris and died on the spot. The Sadar police have registered a case against the truck driver, who had fled after the incident.