January 13, 2008	Sunday	Muharram 03, 1429

MARDAN, Jan 12: Student organisations on Friday held a demonstration here against gas and power loadshedding, suicide bombings and shortage of flour.

They blocked the main Mardan-Malakand Road for several hours, which affected traffic coming from Swat, Dir, Chitral, Shangla, Malakand and Bajaur agency.

The students belonged to the Pukhtun Students Federation, People’s Student Federation and Muslim Students Federation at the government college Takhtbhai and nearby schools.

Mohsin Khan and Imran Khan led the rally and condemned the ‘failed policies’ of the government. They said the youth were assets of a country, but unfortunately in Pakistan students were being neglected. Under the present regime, students were facing long hours of loadshedding which was affecting their studies, they said. The protesters demanded an immediate end to loadshedding and shortage of flour. They urged President Pervez Musharraf to step down.

PDA MEETING: The Pakistan Doctors’ Association (PDA) has threatened that it will close down emergency wards and OPD departments at all hospitals in the province if their demands are not met.

PDA president Dr Aziz Khan called for the reinstatement of deposed doctors and warned that the responsibility for any crisis in hospitals would rest on the shoulders of the officials concerned. He said the association would also observe hunger strikes against the provincial government.