MIANWALI: Camel owners in the district are concerned over a mysterious disease that has reportedly claimed some of their animals and affected a large number of them.

District Coordination Officer (DCO) Ghulam Mustafa Sheikh took note of the situation and directed the livestock department to form teams to check camels all over the district besides administering vaccination to the animals. He further issued directions to depute special teams of veterinary staff at each entry and exit point of the district to check incoming and outgoing camels.

The veterinary staff had also been directed to visit each farmer who had camels to check them daily.

District Officer (Livestock) Dr Muhammad Aslam Khan Niazi told Dawn several camels had been reported dead in surrounding districts of Bhakkar, Khushab and Layyah due to a mysterious disease that had been reported here also. He claimed that due to a timely vaccination campaign in the district most camels had been saved here.

He further said camels in the district were being examined by his teams headed by the veterinary officer, who was monitoring the teams and sending daily reports to him and the DCO. He claimed that they had been able to control the spread of the disease in a short period.

He also appealed to camel owners to contact his staff if their camels had been affected.

ARREST: During checking at Chashma Barrage checkpost a police team arrested two suspects coming from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and recovered 2kg opium from Safiullah and 150 cartridges of Kalashnikovs from Muhammad Nasir. Police registered cases against them.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2015

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