07 February 2004 Saturday 15 Zilhaj 1424 KARACHI: MMA strike closes down businesses KARACHI, Feb 6: A majority of the city's businesses remained closed on Friday due to a strike call given by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal to protest against the government's attitude towards some nuclear scientists. ... KARACHI: MMA's strike jams educational activities KARACHI, Feb 6: Attendance at educational institutions, including the two public sector varsities, remained very thin on Friday due to the strike call given by the Muttahida Majlis-i- Amal. ... KARACHI: Rally held against water projects KARACHI, Feb 6: The Anti Greater Thal Canal and Kalabagh Dam Action Committee, comprising nine political parties, on Friday brought out a rally from Manzoor Colony against construction of the Thal Canal and Kalabagh Dam. ... KARACHI: More districts may be created if needed: CM KARACHI, Feb 6: Sindh Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Mahar, who returned here on Friday morning from a foreign visit, said the creation of new districts should not be opposed. ... KARACHI: Asif to be indicted in Nizam case KARACHI, Feb 6: The district and sessions judge (Karachi Central), Pir Ali Shah, on Friday adjourned hearing of the Justice Nizam Ahmed murder case against Asif Ali Zardari. ... KARACHI: Probe into failure to bill phone charges KARACHI, Feb 6: The Pakistan Telecommunication Company has set up a probe into the accumulation of charges for value-added services, which the phone utility failed to bill on a monthly basis. ... KARACHI: 2,536 cases of abduction reported in 2003 KARACHI, Feb 6: As many as 2,536 cases of kidnapping of women and children were reported in the country during the year 2003. ... KARACHI: Water shortage persists in many localities KARACHI, Feb 6: Acute water shortage continued to persist in various parts of the city, forcing the residents of the affected localities to either purchase private water tankers at exorbitant rates or consume sub-soil unhygienic water ... KARACHI: Films screened on rise of extremism in India KARACHI, Feb 6: Communalism and fascist tendencies have been rising in India for two decades, says Indian filmmaker Gauhar Raza. ... KARACHI: Prospective plan for economic progress KARACHI, Feb 6: The government is preparing a 10-year plan for the economic and industrial progress of the province. ... MULTAN: 5th, 8th class students exempt from exam fee MULTAN, Feb 6: The Punjab government has exempted fifth and eighth class students from paying examination fee, but fixed nominal fee for private students of these classes. ... KHANPUR: Farm tax waiver in Khanpur KHANPUR, Feb 6: Cultivators here will have their agri taxes waived as the Punjab government has declared the region calamity-hit following destruction of the cotton crop by heavy rain last year. ... ISLAMABAD: FTO directs CBR to verify tax record ISLAMABAD, Feb 6: The Federal Tax Ombudsman, Justice Saleem Akhtar (retired), has asked the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) to direct the collector of sales tax, Karachi, to carry out verification and audit of a firm. ... ISLAMABAD: Rs3.6bn being spent on TPP ISLAMABAD, Feb 6: The government is spending around Rs3.6 billion on the provision of educational as well as nutritional facilities to girl child under the Tawana Pakistan Programme (TPP). ... ISLAMABAD: Rock band enthrals audience with live performance ISLAMABAD, Feb 6: Noori, a Lahore-based rock band, enthralled the audience at the Islamabad Club auditorium on Thursday evening. ... ISLAMABAD: Judgment on plea about Ahmedis reserved ISLAMABAD, Feb 6: The Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench, on Friday reserved judgment on a petition of the Majlis Tahaffuz-i-Khatm-i-Nabuwat. ... LAHORE: LHC again returns Saad's petition LAHORE, Feb 6: The Lahore High Court office on Friday returned for the third time a writ petition against the arrest and debriefing of nuclear scientists and others associated with the Khan Research Laboratories. ... LAHORE: JAC moot postponed LAHORE, Feb 6: Lawyers' joint action committee has deferred a representative national conference because of lawyers' engagement in election of the Lahore High Court Bar Association scheduled to be held on Feb 28. ... LAHORE: Expressway project to begin in March LAHORE, Feb 6: The Frontier Works Organization will start work on the Rs3 billion Lahore-Faisalabad Expressway project from next month, Brig Javed Ashraf Bajwa of the FWO told newsmen here on Friday. ... LAHORE: Butcher kills sister over suspicion LAHORE, Feb 6: A butcher killed his divorced sister with the help of his brother-in-law, suspecting that she had illicit relations with a man, in Shadbagh on Friday. ... LAHORE: Food dept move irks bag makers LAHORE, Feb 6: The Punjab Food Department's decision to use polypropylene bags for storing and transporting wheat has irked cotton and jute bag makers who claim that these indestructible plastic bags pose serious threat ... LAHORE: Markets reopen LAHORE, Feb 6: Markets and bazaars in the provincial metropolis reopened after the Eidul Azha holidays on Friday as the business community rejected the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal call for a sbutterdown strike on Dr Abdul Qadeer issue. ... LAHORE: Pervaiz for beautified Lahore LAHORE, Feb 6: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi on Friday directed the authorities concerned to beautify the city, especially its entry points, to save visitors from the ugly looks of colonies around the Ravi. ... KARACHI: Boy killed, 4 wounded in firing KARACHI, Feb 6: A ten-year old boy died and four others were injured when two families fired at each other in Saeedabad on Friday. ... PESHAWAR: Steps taken to boost breastfeeding PESHAWAR, Feb 6: The health department has notified the names of the members of a steering committee to highlight and promote the habit of breast feeding. ... GUJRANWALA: PPP workers allege nepotism by MPs GUJRANWALA, Feb 6: Some PPP activists have criticized their leaders, including members of parliament, for ignoring them in important affairs, and demanded that the devoted workers be adjusted in the party organization and other bodies. ... MULTAN: 17 MMA men held for enforcing strike MULTAN, Feb 6: It is difficult to gauge the response to the MMA strike call as traders in most parts of the Punjab observe Friday as the weekly holiday. ... PESHAWAR: PHC grants bail to policeman PESHAWAR, Feb 6: The Peshawar High Court on Friday granted bail to a former inspector of Frontier Reserve Police (FRP) arrested on the charge of misappropriation of funds. ... PESHAWAR: Car-theft racket highly organized in Frontier PESHAWAR, Feb 6: Police detected less number of stolen cars during examination and verification last year as compared to the previous year in 2002, when 75 per cent of a total 1,150 vehicles examined were found to be stolen, sources revealed on Friday. ... HYDERABAD: Struggle will continue - AT - Disputed water projects HYDERABAD, Feb 6: Awami Tehrik and Sindh Water Committee chief Rasool Bux Palijo has said Sindh is fighting a battle for its survival and its people are duty bound to take part in the battle. ... HYDERABAD: Union defends promotions HYDERABAD, Feb 6: Latifabad Taluka Council Workers Union has said that those taluka council members, who have objected to promotions of the local bodies employees, are ignorant of rules and regulations. ... HYDERABAD: Secretary asked to redress teachers' grievances HYDERABAD, Feb 6: The Sindh High Court, Hyderabad circuit bench, here the other day directed the Sindh education secretary to appear before the court if he failed to redress grievances of 24 teachers by Feb 19. ... SUKKUR: HSC-II results announced SUKKUR, Feb 6: The controller of examinations, Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Sukkur, has announced the results of supplementary examinations of HSC-II. ... QUETTA: Mother gets minor girl's custody QUETTA, Feb 6: A Balochistan High Court division bench on Friday handed over a seven-year-old girl, who was married to a 40-year-old man on the order of a jirga, to her mother. ... SIALKOT: Traffic violation sky high in Sialkot SIALKOT, Feb 6: The traffic police challaned 7,243 different public transport and other vehicles for violation on the main Sialkot-Daska-Gujranwala Road during the first month of 2004. ... SHEIKHUPURA: Two mills' workers run over by train SHEIKHUPURA, Feb 6: Two labourers were crushed by a train on the Sargodha Road, about six kilometres from here, Friday afternoon. ... OKARA: Man strangled over suspicion OKARA, Feb 6: A man was strangled over the suspicion of illicit relations in Naveed Kot, Deepalpur, on Friday. Zahoor suspected that Amjad had developed illicit relations with his wife Saira. ... FAISALABAD: UHS' MBBS results full of errors FAISALABAD, Feb 6: The results of Third Professional MBBS Examination 2003, announced by the University of Health Sciences on Jan 28, were full of errors and omissions. ... KASUR: Two killed by UC Nazim, seven accomplices KASUR, Feb 6: Eight people, including a union council Nazim and his two brothers, allegedly shot dead two people and injured the third over an old enmity in Kalarakabad village, Raiwind Saddar. ... SADIQABAD: Rs35 million for village electrification SADIQABAD, Feb 6: A sum of Rs35 millions have been approved for electrification of rural areas around Chachran Sharif in the provincial constituency PP-288. ... MIANWALI: Sewerage project launched MIANWALI, Feb 6: A mega sewerage project has been launched in the city. Laying the foundation stone of the project on Friday, district Nazim Humair Hayat Khan Rokri told newsmen that the first phase of the project would cost Rs20 million ... DADU: Protesters block highway DADU, Feb 6: Hundreds of people, including the relatives of two accident victims and political activists, held a protest demonstration against the police on the Indus Highway near Sehwan on Friday. ... MIRPURKHAS: Flour crisis continues MIRPURKHAS, Feb 6: Flour crisis continues in the district in the wake of non-availability of wheat bags in godowns of the food department causing closure of hundreds of 'chakkis.' ... MITHI: Special quota of wheat for Tharparkar demanded MITHI, Feb 6: Area people have demanded that the government should sanction a special quota of 50,000 bags of wheat to overcome flour shortage in Tharparkar district. ... KHAIRPUR: 15 held for protesting against gas firm KHAIRPUR, Feb 6: The police arrested 15 people in Sorah area on Friday for observing hunger strike against the transfer of four labourers of Kadanwari gas field, Nara taluka. ... BADIN: Measles breaks out in village BADIN, Feb 6: A child has died of measles and dozens of others are suffering from the disease which has spread in the Khabar Bhoot village, Tando Bago taluka. ... SHIKARPUR: 58 heads of cattle looted SHIKARPUR, Feb 6: Twenty armed men of Rajab Jatoi and Dadlo Jatoi villages took away 58 heads of cattle from Teenda Mahar village on Thursday. ... MIRPURKHAS: 6-month-old daughter of Hari killed by landlords MIRPURKHAS, Feb 6: A six-month-old girl, Bakhtawar, was killed and her parents were injured in an attack on a peasant family by landlords in Ranjho Mari village on Thursday. ... SUKKUR: Motorcyclist kidnapped SUKKUR, Feb 6: A motorcyclist, Mohammad Kamil Bhindi, was abducted by a group of armed dacoits from Kalapul in Abdul Rehman police station jurisdiction, Khairpur district, on Friday. ... ABBOTTABAD: Shortage of foodstuff in Galyat ABBOTTABAD, Feb 6: Shortage of foodstuff in various areas in Galyat has become a major problem for the people, as the roads remain closed due to a heavy snowfall last month. ... WANA: Music shop owners, barbers told to wind up business WANA, Feb 6: About two dozen armed men have warned barbers and music centre owners here to close down their business as shaving beards and listening to music were un-Islamic, sources and eyewitnesses said on Friday. ... HYDERABAD: Shortage of vaccine HYDERABAD, Feb 6: Almost all hospitals in the interior of Sindh, including Civil Hospital Hyderabad, were facing a shortage of anti-rabies vaccine, sources told this correspondent on Friday. ...

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