November 14, 2007	Wednesday	Ziqa’ad 03, 1428

GUJRANWALA, Nov 13: Cable network owners and operators are facing heavy financial losses in the wake of imposition of emergency as a significant number of subscribers have declined to pay their monthly bills for not showing private news television channels.

They are also worried about the future of their business, as citizens now prefer getting their cables disconnected instead of paying the monthly bills ranging from Rs200 to Rs250.

Since the government banned relaying news channels after imposing emergency on Nov 3, several scuffles between cable operators and subscribers for refusing to pay the bills have also been reported from different city areas.

Due to this, the cable operators are facing a great deal of inconvenience in clearing utility bills and salaries of their staff.

Some cable operators were reportedly relaying private news channels on the demand of their subscribers in Ghakkhar. When police raided their installations and arrested some of them and later tortured them for flouting the ban, some ruling Pakistan Muslim League office-bearers went to rescue them and assured the police that they (cable operators) would not violate the ban in future.

Citizens have protested the ban on news channels and the arrest of cable operators and shopkeepers who were selling dish antennas and other related equipment.

They said the government wanted to gag the media and keep the masses in ignorance about political developments in the country to rig the upcoming elections.

ELECTROCUTED: Three people died of electric shocks at an under-construction CNG filling station in Eimenabad on Tuesday.

Two labourers, Pervaiz Masih and Murtaza, and a mason, Zafar Iqbal, were shifting an iron ladder that came into contact with live electricity wires causing electric shocks to them. They died on their way to hospital.

Their bodies were later handed over to their families after autopsy.

BLASPHEMY CASE: The Sadar police have registered a blasphemy case against a cleric on the complaint of another cleric and arrested the accused.

Maulana Umar Siddiq lodged a complaint against Maulana Manzoor Moaawia under Section 298-C of the Pakistan Penal Code for publishing objectionable material.

The police booked Maulana Moaawia and later arrested him.

DEPORTEES: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested at least 75 people, who were deported from Turkey, at Lahore and Islamabad airports on Tuesday.

The deportees, a majority of them belonging to Gujranwala division, were sent abroad by human traffickers after extorting huge sums of money.

The Turkish border security forces arrested them while infiltrating and later detained them in their jails.

Husain Asgher, an FIA additional director, said 27 deportees were arrested from Lahore while 48 from Islamabad.

SMUGGLED WEAPONS: The Model Town police seized a huge cache of smuggled weapons from the shop of a local union council nazim and arrested his salesman here on Tuesday.

The nazim is still at large and the police are pursuing him.

On a tip-off that Atif Masood was selling smuggled arms at his shop and preparing fake arms licenses, the SHO and his fellows raided the shop and seized

9 AK-47 rifles, 4 pump action rifles, several pistols and revolvers and hundreds of live cartridges besides dozens of fake licenses and two stamps used in making fake licences.

The police arrested salesman Muhammad Anwer who informed the police that the arms were smuggled from tribal areas. The police booked him under Section 13 of the Arms Ordinance of 1965.