November 26, 2007	Monday	Ziqa’ad 15, 1428

TOBA TEK SINGH, Nov 25: A senior local leader has welcomed the All Parties Democratic Movement’s decision to boycott the Jan 8 polls if the emergency is not lifted and the Constitution is not restored within four days.

Mian Muhammad Aslam, a Lahore High Court Bar Association executive committee member, was speaking at a reception hosted in his honour by MMA district general secretary Mian Abdul Basit advocate in Garden Colony here on Sunday.

Mian Aslam, who arrived here after his release from a Lahore jail on Sunday, said until emergency was not lifted and judges who did not take oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) were not restored, there was no benefit of taking part in the elections.

He praised the unity among lawyer community, which, according to him, was historic. He welcomed the return of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif.

He condemned banning private TV news channels and curbing the print media in the wake of imposition of emergency.

Mian Basit said Mian Aslam and Supreme Court Bar Association secretary Chaudhry Amin Javed belonged to Toba Tek Singh and local lawyers were proud of them for their struggle for the establishment of rule of law, supremacy of the Constitution and independence of the judiciary.

NOMINATIONS: A majority of the aspirants to contest the Jan 8 elections will file their nomination papers on Monday (today) as the deadline for filing of such papers lapses at midnight between Monday and Tuesday.

Candidates belonging to various political parties yet wait for the finalisation of their party tickets. Three candidates filed their nomination papers on Sunday before Returning Officer Waseen Akhtar. They include Jamaat-i-Islami district amir Dr Zahid Sattar who filed papers for NA 93 and PP 86 constituencies and Punjab Bar Council member Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmad and Shoukat Ali Shoukat, who filed papers for PP 86.