LAHORE, Aug 29: One of the two MPAs, who refused to attend the rally of President Pervez Musharraf at Pind Dadan Khan, revealed that he did it because of local politics dominated by a federal minister.

Talking to Dawn, Chaudhry Tasneem Nasir said federal minister Chaudhry Shahbaz had made life difficult for both of us — Chaudhry Tasneem and Chaudhry Saqlain (the other parliamentarian who boycotted the rally). His son is a local nazim and one of his cousins is nazim of a neighbouring tehsil.

“Both these nazims have completely dominated the local administration and other public representatives have been incapacitated,” he claimed. The situation, he said, was compelling them to shift focus from the PML.

“We have not left the party or trying to sneak into any other party. We have just protested against the treatment meted out to us by the local administration and politicians backed by the minister.

“We have made it clear to the party leadership that we would not attend such meetings unless our local problems are solved,” he said.