| DAWN/The News International, KARACHI | 7 January 2001, Sunday, 11 Shawwal 1421 |
KARACHI: The Ambassador Peter Tejler on Friday met Muttahida Senator (suspended) Nasreen Jaleel at nine zero Azizabad. Muttahida's policy regarding local body polls and govt's towards the party were discussed. ARREST CONDEMNED: Muttahida strongly condemned the arrest of its Sector Incharge Muhammed Amin and Muhammed Shahid. Muttahida also condemned inhuman torture on arrested workers. It asked the CE to take notice and save lives of arrested workers.
SUPPORT ASSURED: Muttahida is with workers of Midway Hotel, said the party leader Aftab Ahmed Sheikh. Muttahida leaders also condemned closure of Dow Medical College Points and demanded their immediate restoration. They termed this action as a prejudiced step against students.
Muttahida invited to ARD meetingMULTAN: Chairman Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan said on Saturday that Muttahida Qaumi Movement has been invited to attend the meeting of ARD being held in Karachi on January 14 and 15. Talking to the newsmen, he said, Muttahida was invited to sort out problems and hoped that it would avail the opportunity to resolve the issues. To a question, Nawabzada said PML-N would remain part of the alliance as far as it continued to cooperate.
Mumtaz slams MQMKARACHI: The Gulbarg police arrested a cop and his accomplice after a shoot-out. The accused were fleeing after looting prize bonds and cash from one Junaid Akhtar on Saturday. Sources said the accused, riding a motorcycle, intercepted Junaid Akhtar near Tahir Villa and looted Rs1,000 and prize bonds worth Rs150,000 from him and fled.
Luckily a mobile team of Sharifabad police reached the scene and was informed about the incident and intercepted the robbers at which they attempted to escape under cover of fire. Police also opened fire, nabbed them and identified one as Ghulam Abbas, a cop posted at Central Jail and his accomplice as Altaf Jamshed. Police recovered looted cash, prize bonds and a TT pistol.
DECOMPOSED BODY: Mauripur police found decomposed body of a 50-year-old fisherman. Residents later identified the victim as Dilair Ahmad of Sector 12-L, Orangi Town. The corpse was shifted to the Civil Hospital where MLO held that the victim died of drowning.
Retrenchment in PTCL condemnedKARACHI: Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party leader, Gulzar Soomro, has condemned the planned termination of services of a large number of employees in Pakistan Telecommunication Co Ltd (PTCL). He alleged that the employees who were being sacked belonged to a certain ethnic group. He said, the Establishment was pulling the strings and warned that the STPP would resist the removal from services of the Sindhi youths tooth-and-nail.
Normalcy returns to Orakzai AgencyPESHAWAR: The villagers, displaced by sectarian clashes in Orakzai Agency, started returning to their homes on Saturday as normalcy was restored after three days of fierce fighting. Government officials and tribal sources said the ceasefire which came into effect on Friday through the efforts of a joint Shia-Sunni Jirga from Kurram tribal agency was holding. Orakzai Agency's political agent Aftab Durrani told The News that the Jirga members totalling over 40 also left for their homes Saturday afternoon as they were no longer required.
"The Shias and the Sunnis would now be given an option whether they want the same Jirga drawn from Kurram Agency to continue working or they are in favour of a Jirga comprising elders from both sects belonging to Orakzai Agency. The third option is to have a Jirga with elders belonging to all tribal agencies," he said.
Once an agreement is reached on the composition of the Jirga, the political agent said that it would try to tackle issues like visits by the Shias to the Mian Ziarat, the shrine which is located in the Sunni area and whose disputed status triggered the sectarian violence, and carrying out the shrine's repairs.
"The government wants the Shias to continue visiting the shrine as they were doing in the past even though there are certain Sunni objections to it," he said. The Frontier Corps militia had got vacated and occupied all positions held by the combatants, he added.