Okara: three political families join hands against PML-N under PTI umbrella

OKARA: The de-seating of PMLN federal minister Saad Rafiq, NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and NA-154 MNA Siddiq Baloch has united three rival local political families under the banner of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). A case seeking disqualification of PML-N MNA Chaudhry Muhammad Arif had been pending with an Election Tribunal since the general elections of 2013, and he was de-seated on August 21, 2015. He had also experienced electoral problems in the past. Earlier, his nomination papers were rejected in the previous general elections. However, he served as chairman of the local municipal committee and later on was elected an MPA. In 2008 general elections, a late former federal minister had raised objections against him on account of a bogus academic degree, and his nomination papers were rejected. However, his covering candidate, Chaudhry Sajjadul Hassan, won the MNA seat on a PPP ticket against Rao Sikandar Iqbal. In 2013 general elections, ChaudhryMuhammad Arif’s nomination papers were approved, and consequently he won the election on a PML-N ticket. However, Chaudhry Sajjadul Hassan and some others filed election petitions against him, and consequently got him de-seated on fake degree charges. The late Rao Sikandar Iqbal remained in the PPP for a very long time but later joined hands with former president General Pervez Musharraf. General Elections 2013 caused a rivalry between Chaudhry Sajjadul Hassan and Chaudhry Muhammad Arif and both contested the elections. The latter was declared successful. The wife of late Rao Sikandar Iqbal also contested the same election unsuccessfully. In the past, there had been two houses in the mainstream of local politics in Okara. The area had been a battlefield between Rao Sikandar Iqbal of the PPP and Mian Muhammad Zaman of the PML, later on the PML-N. Both had been winning elections alternately and joining the federal cabinets. After the demise of Rao Sikandar Iqbal, his family went into oblivion politically. In the later part of his life, Rao Sikandar patronized Muhammad Ashraf Khan Sohna, who was twice elected MPA. Though Rao Sikandar was expelled from the PPP by Benazir Bhutto, Ashraf Sohna remained in the party. He was made a provincial minister as a PPP MPA by Shahbaz Sharif during the previous government. In general elections of 2013, Sohna lost his seat to Mian Muhammad Munir of the PML-N and acquiesced to the position of PPP district president. PTI National Assembly ticket-holder Rao KhalidMustafa had contested some elections on the PPP tickets. But before 2013 general elections, he joined the PTI and lost the election. Recently, Rao Hassan Sikandar joined the PTI, and soon after that Muhammad Ashraf Sohna and Pir Samsam Bokhari also showed allegiance to Imran Khan. After de-seating of MNA Chaudhry Arif, the three houses, Rao Sikandar’s, Sohna’s and KhalidMustafa’s,who nowstand in the ranks of the PTI, ended their differences and joined the platform of the PTI.