29 August 2004	Sunday	12 Rajab 1425

BAHAWALPUR Aug 28: Incidents of car and motorcycle snatching have alarmingly been on the rise in the Bahawalpur police range during the month of July.

It is learnt that a total 29 motorcycles were allegedly snatched at pistol point while 39 bikes were stolen in three districts of Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan.

Out of the total 29 bikes, eight were snatched in Bahawalpur, two in Bahawalnagar and the rest in Rahim Yar Khan district. While police recovered four and nine snatched bikes respectively from the culprits in Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan districts.

In Bahawalpur district, only two out of 11 stolen motorcycles were recovered and in Rahim Yar Khan district only nine out of 27 stolen bikes could be retrieved by the police.

However, the two cars stolen in the Bahawalpur district during the period could not be recovered.

Meanwhile, DPO Arif Nawaz said that the campaign to curb the crime and improve the law and order situation in the district would continue.

He claimed that a number of criminals had been arrested due to intensified police patrolling.

DEMANDED: Bahawalpur district JUI amir Riaz Ahmed Chughtai has asked the government to stop conducting raids on seminaries and arrests of ulema across the country.

In his statement here on Friday, the JUI leader regretted that the ulema were being branded as terrorists at the behest of foreign powers.

COUPLE DIES: A couple died from snake bite at Mauza Kotla Musa Khan near Ahmedpur East.

Muhammad Siddique and his wife Mumtaz Mai were working in the fields when a snake bit them. Both of them died on the spot.