MANSEHRA, Sept 30: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has provided Rs40 million for construction of five roads in those areas of the district where Afghan refugees have been living for the last two decades.

Provincial Minister for Revenue Shuja Salim Khan inaugurated work on the roads here on Sunday. “These roads are being constructed at a cost of Rs40 million provided by UNHCR,” he told the inaugural ceremony.

MPA Mufti Kifayatullah and Tasleem Khan Tanoli, a local elder, also spoke on the occasion.

The minister said that the roads were being constructed in those areas where Afghan refugees had been living for the last two decades.

These roads include Sheikh Abad road, Allai Colony road, Madni Masjid road, Timer Khola road and Teter Mera road.

Mr Khan said that besides initiating infrastructure development projects, he had also focused on education and health sectors.

Four colleges for girls were also constructed in the area, he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Mufti Kifayatullah said that in past rulers kept the people of Mansehra backward for their vested interests. “Now an era of development and prosperity has been started in the remote areas of the district and people will get all civic amenities,” he said.

RALLY: A large number of children staged a rally here on Sunday against the anti-Islam film.

Children came in processions from Jinnah College and Chania area to take part in the rally. Carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans against the filmmaker and America, the children marched on different roads in the city.

They demanded of United Nations to help stop production of such sacrilegious things in future.

“If the United Nations wants to maintain interfaith harmony in the world, it should make legislation against desecration of any prophet and apostle in any form,” they said.

A resolution demanding public execution of the filmmaker was also adopted unanimously by the participants of the rally.

Meanwhile, a woman was killed allegedly by her husband in Battal area on Saturday night.

Police said that Mohammad Abid shot dead his wife and managed to escape. Police shifted the body to hospital for autopsy.

HELP SOUGHT: The father of a minor child, who is suffering from cancer, has appealed to the government and well-off people to help him in treatment of his son.

“The left kindly of my son has already been removed because of cancer. He will not survive if he is not treated.

I can’t afford his expensive treatment because I am a daily wager,” Mazloom Shah told journalists.

His son Amir Shah, 6, has been suffering from cancer for the last two years. Doctors at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad removed his left kidney earlier this year.

Mr Shah appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti and well-off people to come forward to save the life of his son.