April 16, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 9, 1429

NAWABSHAH, April 15: A poor peasant and his son held a demonstration outside the press club on Tuesday, demanding that the chief minister order police to get his wife and daughters freed from illegal detention of an influential landlord of the area. Ameer Bux Machhi of 68-Mori said that when he asked for accumulated payment of years of work on the fields of the landlord he gave him severe beating and them locked him up along with his family in a room.

The landlord used to free them during the day and force them to work and again lock them up in illegal detention at night. One day he got an opportunity to escape with his son leaving behind his wife Ms Shahnaz and two daughters Fiza, 9, and Guddi 6, who were still detained at the landlord’s fields.

Machhi said that he was too poor and too afraid to approach police for justice and the landlord was very influential. He, therefore, demanded that the chief minister concerned should order police to get his family freed.

ANTI-HEPATITIS DRIVE: The district health department in collaboration with education department launched the District Nazim’s Programme for Prevention of Hepatitis-B on Tuesday.

Executive District Officer of Health Dr Bahadur Khero said that more than 143,000 primary school children would be administered anti-hepatitis-B vaccine during the drive from April 15 to 30.

He said that 40 teams had been formed, which would be supervised by a team of senior doctors, supervisors and social mobilisers, and they would visit a total of 2,528 primary schools in the district to vaccinate all the students.

ACCIDENT: A woman and her daughter were killed when a tractor-trolley loaded with sugarcane hit a motorcycle on the 60-Miles Road near here on Tuesday.

Ms Kulsoom, 25, and her one-year-old daughter Isbah were killed on the spot while the tractor driver managed to escape. Police have impounded the trolley bur did not file any FIR till filing of this report.

RAID: The district coordination officer caught 17 students cheating in examinations during his surprise visits to several examination centres on Tuesday.

District Coordination Officer Khurshid Naeem Malik was accompanied by EDO of education Razi Khan Jamali during his visits.