LAHORE, Aug 19: Mandi Bahauddin District Nazim Nazar Mohammed Gondal has alleged political victimization by chaudhrys to avenge the defeat of their brother-in-law at his hands in the local elections.

Speaking at a press conference along with MNAs Zulfiqar Ali Gondal and Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmad and MPA Ehsan Elahi at the Lahore Press Club on Tuesday, Mr Gondal said he had been elected district Nazim after defeating former District Council chairman Chaudhry Ejaz Asghar, the brother-in-law of chaudhrys, by 160 votes.

He said the chaudhrys had singled him out for attack because he happened to be the only district Nazim belonging to the Pakistan People’s Party and had refused to join the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam).

He claimed that the district council had approved the budget in its session on July 30 by a show of hands, but the government functionaries got signatures of the members against it afterwards and the district coordination officers declared the budget “unapproved” on the instructions of Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi.

Referring to the no-confidence move against him, he said the entire Chaudhry Family stayed in Mandi Bahauddin from Aug 2 to 8 for preparing the ground for the no-confidence motion. The motion had been submitted at 1pm on Aug 13 after he had left for Islamabad to proceed to Oslo, Norway, where he had been invited to attend its independence day celebrations. He, however, came to know about the submission of the motion and returned to Mandi Bahauddin.

He claimed 56 district council members were taken into custody soon after the submission of the motion against him and sent to Murree. Written assurances were procured from them in Murree that they would support the no-trust motion. They were also made to swear on the Holy Quran for the purpose.

Meanwhile, the district Naib Nazim, who had joined the chaudhrys, convened the district council session on Aug 16 without informing him. He said 56 members were brought to the district council hall directly from Murree on Aug 16, but six of them did not support the motion. Of 50 who voted in favour of the motion, six were acting Nazims and did not have the right to vote.

A petition had already been filed in the Lahore High Court in this connection. Thus only 44 clear votes were cast in favour of the motion after leaving the six disputed votes aside whereas a minimum 47 votes were required for the adoption of the motion in the house comprising 92 members. He alleged that he and his supporters were being victimized under the instructions of the chief minister. The Malikwal police baton-charged his companions and registered a case against him and seven others despite the fact that the police were supposed to be under his control in his capacity as district Nazim.

He claimed that the chief minister was creating the law and order situation in his district because he wanted to make it a part of Gujrat district once again as it was its tehsil before being upgraded as a district in 1993. The chief minister had already got exclusion of Serai Alamgir from Gujrat denotified. He said the chief minister had already referred a request for the restoration of the Gujrat district in its original form sent by PML-Q MNA Mohammed Nawaz to the Punjab Board of Revenue for examination.

He said he and 33 union council Nazims had sent their resignations to President Gen Pervez Musharraf in protest against the excesses being committed by the chaudhrys. Governor Khalid Maqbool had also been apprised of the situation.

MNAs Zulfiqar Gondal and Chaudhry Manzoor and MPA Ehsan Elahi said Gen Musharraf should take notice of the anti-democratic policies of the chaudhrys.