MULTAN, Aug 9: District Nazim Riaz Hussain Qureshi announced on Saturday that he would form a front to get Haj flights restored from the Multan airport.

All the district Nazims of south Punjab would constitute the front, Mr Qureshi told members of the ‘Haj Flights Action Committee’ in his office.

The Nazim said the government has no reason to justify the cancellation of Haj flights from Multan.

He claimed that the local office of the PIA has no objection if the flights were restored. He said the PIA authorities cited smuggling of children as jockeys to Gulf states for camel race as the reason behind suspension of the Haj flights. The ministry of religious affairs put the blame on PIA for having an insufficient fleet.

The members of the action committee told Mr Qureshi that an agitation campaign would be launched if the government did not take notice of the peaceful movement of the area people to get the facility restored.

They told the Nazim that besides the people of south Punjab, residents of Loralai (Balochitsan) and Dera Ismail Khan (NWFP) used to take Haj flights from Multan.

Meanwhile, PML-Q district president Syed Raza Gilani has donated a piece of land situated near the Multan airport for the construction of Haji camp.

GAS: The State Minister for Telecommunication and Information Technology, Barrister Raza Hayat Hiraj launched gas supply scheme for three villages of his native Kabirwala tehsil on Friday.

Addressing the ground-breaking ceremony, the minister claimed that Kabirwala tehsil was fetching development funds under the Jamali government.

He said funds of Rs51.4m for gas supply and Rs140m for electrification schemes had been allocated for the tehsil from various heads of federal and provincial governments’ budgets. “In the next two years their will be no household in the tehsil without electricity and telephone,” he added.

Justifying his decision of joining the PPP Patriot camp, he said he had taken the step keeping in view the interest of the area and its people. “My decision has proved to be correct with the unprecedented flow of funds to the tehsil,” he boasted.