Cloth merchant shot dead

RAWALPINDI, Aug 7: A cloth merchant of Dhoke Khabba was sprinkled with acid and was later shot dead by two persons on Sunday.

Uncle of cloth merchant also received burn injuries as some drops of acid fell on him, police said.

Malik Mushtaq Ahmed Awan said in his complaint that he went to meet his nephew Shahid Kamran at his shop on Sunday morning. He said while he was talking to his nephew, Abdul Salam and Muhammad Ramzan who was carrying a bottle filled with acid came there and began to quarrel with his nephew. He said, after a while Ramzan threw acid on his nephew and then Abdul Salam opened fire at him killing him on the spot.

Later, the alleged killers escaped from the scene. Police said no arrest could be made so far. They said Abdul Salam killed Shahid Kamran over a divorce issue. —Staff Reporter

Honour killing

RAWALPINDI, Aug 7: Honour killing in the country has increased alarmingly in the first half of the current year compared to the previous year as every fifth woman across the country is being targeted by her husband.

A fresh study carried out by Global Foundation, an international network of human rights groups, has revealed that honour killing had increased by 8.6 per cent with 334 registered cases in the first six months of the current year compared to 627 honour-related cases last year.

It said during the last six months, 187 women had been harassed while 321 committed suicide due to various reasons. It said out of the total registered cases, nine per cent women lost their lives due to enmity of other members of the family.

The executive director, Global Foundation, Ulfat Kazmi said majority of honour-killing incidents were reported in Faisalabad district in Punjab, Kashmore in Sindh, Jaffarabad in Balochistan and Mardan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. — Our Reporter

PTDC workers warn of protest

TAXILA, Aug 7: Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) officers association have threatened to launch a protest drive if three-month salaries are not paid to them.

President PTDC officers association Rasheed Awan while talking to newsmen here on Saturday said that around 860 PTDC employees had been facing disturbing situation for the non-payment of the salaries. He said that about 360 of them were regular employees while the others were serving on contract and daily wages basis. He said that the PTDC needed at least Rs200 million to cope with the present financial crunch which had hit the corporation following the decline in tourism activities due to terrorism and last year’s flood.

He said that the employees would not get their salaries for another two to three months because of the devolution of the PTDC and the Ministry of Tourism to the provinces.

PTDC Spokesman Mukhtar Ali said that the employees had not been paid the salaries because the federal government did not provide funds to the corporation. He hoped that the matter would be resolved soon. He said that PTDC Managing Director Mir Shahjahan Khetran contacted the authorities concerned for the clearance of all the dues of the employees. —Correspondent