October 23, 2007	Tuesday	Shawwal 10, 1428

MUZAFFARGARH, Oct 22: Four robbers looted Rs600,000 from Habib Bank’s Sheikh Umar branch in Kot Addu on Monday. The robbers entered the bank at 10am and held the officials at gunpoint. Later, they collected Rs600,000 and fled in a car. When it happened, bank’s security guard was not present at the office.

Bank manager Shahid Qureshi said that he was off the office to check the under-construction building of the bank along with the bank’s guard. When he returned, he saw the robbers fleeing. He says that he asked the guard to open fire at them, but before he could take any action, they ran away in car.

Police registered a case against unidentified people.

Local residents protested against the growing lawlessness in the area. They said they feared the police would fail to arrest the accused. They said police also had failed to arrest the accused who had murdered five people in Sanawan in a single hit on Sept 8.

PPP LEADER: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) provincial information secretary Farzana Raja will visit Muzaffargarh today (Tuesday) to offer condolence over the death of PPP worker Ashraf Bhatti who died in the Karachi bombing on Oct 18.

PPP District Information Secretary Malik Mazhar Pahore said District Nazim Sardar Qayyum Jatoi, Mian Mohsin Qureshi, Rana Mahboob Akhtar and Irshad Sial would receive Ms Raja and accompany her to Basti Dammar Wala in Jatoi tehsil, the hometown of the deceased worker.

Ashraf was diehard worker of the PPP. PPP Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto has also sent a condolence message to the grieved family. In the message, she promised that she would visit the family Shaheed Ashraf at an appropriate time.