Mian Faisel Mukhtar, the PML-backed candidate for forthcoming District Nazim/Naib-Nazim elections, on Sunday received assurance of unconditional support from traders in Multan, who were elected as union council Nazims, Naib-Nazims and council bar in local bodies elections.
Khawaja Muhammad Shafiq, the central chairman Pakistan Traders Alliance (PTA), said, traders contested first phase of LG elections in their individual capacity and some eight to 10 Nazims and over 100 councillors were declared returned.
Now they have decided to use their vote to support a candidate they think was fit to become the city district Multan nazim, he added.
Khawaja announced at a press conference in Multan Press Club on behalf of traders that they will vote for Mian Faisal Mukhtar, but made it clear that the support does not mean traders were joining any political party, adding that traders' bodies are always apolitical and they ran this forum in a non-political manner.
Former Punjab food minister Hafiz Iqbal Khan Khakwani, Mian Faisal Mukhtar, traders Aamir Naseem, Mazahir Hussain and others were also present during the press conference.
A body of 11 traders was formed to decide which candidate they should support in the third phase of elections and 10 of them voted in favour of Mian Faisal Mukhtar while the one abstained from the process, Khawaja said.
He lauded Mian Faisal Mukhtar's role as city Nazim Multan during last four years and his traders-friendly gestures, and hoped that if voted to power he would serve the people of Multan to the best of his talent and energies.
Mian Faisal Mukhtar thanked traders for their support and assured them that if voted to power he would serve the people sincerely.