TOBA TEK SINGH: A 35-year-old man, whose attempt to marry an underage girl was foiled by some media persons in Kamalia on Saturday, managed to tie the knot with the eight-year-old girl at some undisclosed location the very next day on Sunday.

Allah Yar told reporters on Sunday that his brother Muhammad Anwar called groom Abdul Jabbar and his guests at some unknown place where an unidentified nikah khwan solemnized Jabbar’s nikah with underage girl Fakhra Bibi.

Allah Yar had informed some journalists on Saturday that his brother Muhammad Anwar of Khurshidabad sold his eight-year-old daughter to Abdul Jabbar of Sahiwal for Rs200,000 and the wedding ceremony was going to take place on Saturday evening.

A group of journalists with movie cameras reached the house of Muhammad Anwar, but the groom, his relatives and friends managed to slip from the spot. When questioned, the nikah khwan claimed he had told Anwar that he would not solemnize the nikah of an underage girl.

Kamalia DSP Muhammad Usman told reporters that he would direct the City police SHO to investigate and take legal action if the allegation of underage marriage was found correct.

WOMAN KILLED: A woman was killed while her 10-year-old son and her brother-in-law sustained serious injuries in an accident on Gojra-Toba Road near New Plots locality in Gojra on Sunday.

Reports said that Iqrar Ahmed of Chak 318-JB along with Rukhsana and her son Soban Anwar was on his way when a van coming from Gojra hit his bike. Consequently, Rukhsana died on the spot while Ahmed and Soban received serious injuries.

They were admitted to the THQ Hospital in Gojra where their condition was stated to be critical.

INQUIRY ORDERED: Jhang branch canal EXEN Zafar Hussain Mirza ordered an inquiry for the alleged involvement of influential farmers in steeling water from Pucca Anna-Duggal Kotli minor canal through underground pipes laid for the purpose near Chak 283-JB.

Some small farmers told reporters that canal water hardly reached their fields because of steeling of water by influential farmers.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2014