NOWSHERA, March 16: MMA's acting president Qazi Hussain Ahmad has said that a joint wedding ceremony for 200 couples would be held here on March 21.

Speaking at a press conference here on Tuesday, Qazi Hussain said the mass wedding had been organized mainly to eliminate the evil of dowry from the society. It would be a unique function in the history of the province and would encourage the people to discard un-Islamic traditions, he said.

He said the mass wedding programme would be held with the support of the Zakat department and Al-Khidmat Foundation. He said holding the mass wedding of 200 couples was not an easy task, and urged the well-to-do people and philanthropists, besides private and public organizations, to come forward and assist the organizers in making the ceremony a real success.

He said every couple would be given Rs25,000 to Rs30,000 to meet their expenses. The Al-Khidmat Foundation was the main sponsor of the ceremony, he added.

The MMA leader said the mass wedding programme had been organized to discourage un-Islamic traditions like dowry, which had afflicted many families with untold miseries. MNA Shabbir Ahmad Khan and district Zakat chairman Haji Irshad Khan were also present on the occasion.

PROTEST MEETING: The traders community held a jirga to protest against the increasing incidents of theft, robbery and dacoity in the Nowshera cantonment limits.