September 26, 2007	Wednesday	Ramazan 13, 1428

GUJRANWALA, Sept 25: Around two dozen women teachers of government primary schools who were recruited under the National Internship Programme (NIP) have protested non-payment of their salaries for past three months and termed it an oppressed act on part of the government. They demanded that they should immediately be paid.

Parents told Dawn that the Punjab government had recruited 29 Master’s degree holder women of Gujranwala district under the NIP and later deployed them in girls primary schools through the education department three months ago.

They said that the girls only in Gujranwala district were not being paid since their recruitment while their counterparts in Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi districts were being paid regularly.

They said that during the past three months, a few teachers had left the job after getting disappointed over non-payment of salaries on time.

They urged the Punjab government and education department to pay them their wages and redress their agony, particularly during the holy month of Ramazan.

RAIDS: At least 50 shopkeepers including two-dozen butchers were arrested for overcharging during a crackdown by the district government officials here on Tuesday.

District Coordination Officer Ather Hussain formed several raiding parties led by district officer livestock and special magistrates to check prices of essential commodities and arrested several shopkeepers found overcharging. Their challans were later submitted to special judicial magistrates who fined them Rs2,000 to Rs5,000 each. The district administration has warned that it would not spare shopkeepers involved in overcharging and hoarding.

CONDEMNATION: The District Bar Association and local chapter of the Pakistan People’s Party Lawyers Wing have condemned the government’s ongoing crackdown on activists of opposition parties. They have also supported the lawyers’ presidential candidate Justice (r) Wajihuddin Ahmad and demanded that all arrested political workers should immediately be released.

At a meeting held here on Tuesday which was presided over by DBA president Ilyas Rehan, the participants alleged that the government wanted to get President General Pervez Musharraf re-elected after arresting All Pakistan Democratic Movement (APDM) leaders.

They urged the chief election commissioner to take notice of the expenditures being incurred by the government on election campaign of General Musharraf. They said that Raza Khan Kasuri’s face tarnishing was result of his mischievous conduct.

Meanwhile, Judicial Magistrate Tasir Ahmad on Tuesday sent around dozen arrested activists of APDM to jail.