March 06, 2008	Thursday	Safar 27 ,1429

LAHORE, March 5: A mob threw traffic out of gear at Shalimar Chowk on GT Road for an hour after a bus crushed a 14-year-old school-going boy on Wednesday.

The protesters reportedly attacked some buses, but the Baghbanpura police baton-charged the protesters to disperse them – something the police denied.

Muhammad Javed Akhtar, a working journalist, told Dawn by phone that his youngest son, Bilal Akhtar, was standing at Shalimar Chowk stop to board a bus after school timings.

He said two buses of different companies, which were trying to overtake each other, reached the stop and hardly had his son boarded a bus, the driver accelerated. As a result, Bilal was run over and killed.

Some people stopped the bus at some distance and captured the driver, also blocking the road and holding demonstration against rash driving but the police baton-charged them.

Mr Akhtar said Bilal was a student of sixth class at the Government Baghbanpura High School. He complained that due to rash driving by the public transport, a number of people, including children, had fallen prey to accidents on one of the busiest roads in the city.

A duty officer of Baghbanpura police station said the driver, identified as Salamat, had been arrested and a case registered under section 322 of the PPC. He denied that the protesters blocked the road.

In another incident, a commuter of a bus died after the conductor pushed him out of the running vehicle and he fell under its wheels near Bhaikaywal Morr on Wednesday. The driver and conductor managed their escape.

Shot dead: Two outlaws shot dead an employee of a cell phone company during a robbery bid in Gulshan Colony in South Cantonment police limits on Wednesday.

Two gunmen stormed the house of Muhammad Ali Awan and held the family. On Awan’s raising hue and cry, the furious outlaws shot at him and fled. Awan was taken to Shalimar Hospital where he succumbed to his bullet wounds.

Three robbers entered Ghulam Mustafa’s house in Ghaziabad police precincts and took away cash, jewellery and valuables worth Rs400,000.

Three robbers barged in Muhammad Umer’s house in Sabzazar and fled with cash and valuables worth Rs300,000.

Four robbers stormed Muhammad Usman’s house in the Lower Mall area and fled with cash and valuables worth Rs320,000. Two robbers entered Muhammad Faqeer’s house in Chuhng police precincts and took away cash and valuables worth Rs300,000.