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MIANWALI, Jan 10: The police could not find any clue to robbers who looted scores of vehicles, including three vehicles of a marriage party, on the Kalabagh-Shakardara Road near Tibirsir on late Thursday.
Tibirsir is one of the sensitive areas in the Salt Range mountains where outlaws frequently loot vehicles. This is also the shortest route to Peshawar and other parts of the NWFP via Kohat. Law enforcement agencies of the NWFP and Punjab could take preventive measures by prohibiting the movement of vehicles on this route after sunset. The Afghan refugees in the area are a big source of supplying arms and ammunition to the outlaws.
Seven robbers armed with Kalashnikovs had intercepted three pick-ups and a bus carrying a wedding party after creating hurdles on the Kalabagh-Shakardara Road. The outlaws deprived the marriage party members of cash, ornaments, wristwatches and other valuables. In the meanwhile, they also halted another bus coming from Kohat and also looted its passengers. Later, they stopped three trucks and a wagon coming from Kalabagh and relieved truck drivers and passengers of cash, ornaments and wristwatches. They blocked the road for an hour and fled with the booty after completing their task. Some army personnel were also among the passengers, but they did not offer any resistance against the armed highwaymen.
EDUCATION TAX: Following the footsteps of the Punjab government, the district government has also withdrawn the education tax of Rs5 from April 2003.
This was announced by Zila Nazim Humair Hayat Rokhari in a meeting of the “Child Welfare and Development” arranged by the Social Welfare Department with the collaboration of the Unicef.
He said as per the Unicef report, the admission ratio at the primary level in the district among boys and girls is 46 and 22 per cent, respectively, which was drastically poor. To enhance this ratio, he said the government had launched a Universal Education Programme with the help of Unicef.
During the first phase, Mr Rokhari said 114 education centres had so far been set up at Piplan tehsil and 10 at Mianwali Central Jail under the ‘Education For All Scheme’.
At least 150 new centres would be set up this month at Mianwali and Piplan tehsils where 150 teachers would be employed purely on merit basis. He said NGOs would run these centres.
Mr Rokhari said a survey would soon be conducted about the child labour in the industrial and commercial centres to exactly know the number of children involved in this abuse. Parents would be persuaded through lady councillors to send their children to schools instead of automobile workshops or at tea stalls, he said.
Speaking to participants, District Commission for Child Welfare and Development chairman Amjad Ali Khan called upon the participants to submit their proposals so that some solid action would be taken in this direction.
