May 10, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 4, 1429

SHEIKHUPURA, May 9: Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Dost Mohammad Khosa came hard on Ferozwala lawyers for whitewashing in their speeches the issue of deposed judges’ restoration, including Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, on Friday.

The chief minister said that demands for funds and lawyers colony were much less important than that of the restoration of judiciary.

“I myself was roughed up by police on several occasions for participating in protest rallies by lawyers”, he said this during his address after an oath-taking ceremony of the newly-elected office bearers of the Ferozwala Bar Association.

The chief minister said that past rulers were responsible for inflation, flour crunch, power blackouts and the poor law and order situation in the country as they blindly followed an individual who was still in power unfortunately.

“We have no magic stick which can bring an overnight progressive change in the country, particularly in Punjab”, he said.

The chief minister announced Rs2 million for the Ferozwala Bar Association and hoped that lawyers would actively participate in the movement for the restoration of deposed judges.

Speaking on the occasion, Federal Minister for Defence Production Rana Tanvir Ahmed said that the Punjab government should reorganize four tehsils of the district.

He urged the chief minister to reunite Sheikhupura and Nankana districts into one district.

DCO Suleman Ijaz, District Nazim Mian Jalil Ahmed Sharqpuri, MNAs, MPAs and other high-ups were also present.

SHOP LOOTED: Four armed men looted a jewellery shop in Kot Abdul Malik here on Friday.

Reports said that gunmen barged into Abdul Rauf’s shop in the main bazaar and held up the owner and customers. The intruders later collected ornaments worth Rs600,000 and escaped with the loot. The Factory Area police are looking into the matter. — Correspondent