April 17, 2002	Wednesday	Safar 3, 142

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GUJRANWALA, April 16: Arrangements for the public meeting to be addressed by President Gen Pervez Musharraf at Jinnah Stadium on Wednesday (today) have been finalized.

A large number of police and Elite Force personnel were deployed around the venue on Tuesday. All roads leading to the stadium have been repaired and cleaned.

A big stage had been set up which was decorated with coloured banners and flags. Huge portraits of the president had also been installed in and around the stadium.

A helipad is being prepared at the district police lines as the president is scheduled to arrive here in a helicopter. Activists of the PML(QA) and other political parties which are supporting the president will welcome him.

Meanwhile, the PML(N), the PPP, the Jamaat-i-Islami and other anti-government political parties accused the government of using all the government resources to win support for the president in referendum.

Leaders of these parties claimed that there was no provision for referendum in the constitution. They claimed they would oppose the referendum at all cost.

OPPOSED: The local District Bar Association has opposed presidential referendum and termed it ‘unconstitutional’.

At a meeting on Tuesday, lawyers adopted a resolution against the referendum.

They said resignation by the Balochistan High Court election commission justice reflected his stand on principles.

They pledged they would participate in the lawyers’ convention in Lahore on April 20.

Those attended the meeting were Bar Secretary Malik Imtiaz Noor, senior members Chaudhry Ghulam Rasool Bakhsh Ghuman and Chaudhry Nisar Ahmad, Punjab Bar Council member Chaudhry Pervez Ahmad Oathi and members Chaudhry Mahmood Bashir Virk, Dr Shaikh Eizad Masood, Haji Amir Afzal, Malik Abdul Basit, Bashir Ahmad, Wasim Saleemi, Riaz Shaikh, Maqbool Ahmad Qureshi and Nasreen Khawar Raja.

STRIKE: The Gujranwala Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education employees on the second day Tuesday observed three-hour strike over denying them the new pay-scales.

Chaired by Board Employees Welfare President Bashir Ahmad, the participants at the meeting announced that they would go on a complete strike on Wednesday (today).

They demanded that their salaries should be paid according to the new pay-scale.

KILLED: A tractor driver was killed when his vehicle collided with a truck near Eminabad, GT Road on Tuesday.

Amanat Ali was on his way to Noorpark village by his tractor when a truck (JG-3266) collided head-on with the vehicle. Ali died on the spot.

Police have registered a case against the absconding driver.

CAUGHT: The Gujranwala Electric Power Company (Gepco) on Tuesday caught over a dozen consumers who had been stealing electricity for domestic and commercial purposes in various parts of the district.

Led by a secret information, the team raided Wahando, Kamoki and Naushera Virkan, removed meters and equipment and issued heavy detection bills to the culprits.

An FIR has been lodged.