BAHAWALPUR, Nov 18: The district coordination officer (DCO) has warned local officials of the clandestine threat of spread of polio virus in the district from the carrier of the virus coming from tribal areas.

DCO Imran Sikandar Baloch, inaugurating a five-day anti-polio campaign on Monday, said the chances of re-occurrence of polio virus in the district could not be ruled out because of the arrival of tribal people in the district. He said the people migrated from the tribal areas to the Punjab plains in winter.

He said government officials would have to be on alert in anti-polio drives.

For the first time, a five-day drive has been launched in the district which will target over 500,000 children of less than five years of age.

The DCO said in the first three days of the drive, teams would visit door to door to administer drops to children while in the last two days, the mobile teams would locate the children at places like bus stands, railway stations, toll plaza, markets and bazaars to administer anti-polio drops to the children accompanying their parents.

DEMO: A large number of students and teachers of seminaries brought out a rally and staged a sit-in in protest at sectarian riots of Rawalpindi, Chishtian and Haroonabad.

The students marched from Fowara Chowk to DIG Chowk where Shafqatur Rehman, Rao Javed Iqbal and Sohaib delivered inflammatory speeches and criticised the government. They demanded release of the people arrested in Rawalpindi, Haroonabad and Chishtian.

The blocking of DIG Chowk created a traffic mess on city roads.

Some protesters hurled threats on reporters and also wrote hate graffiti on walls, which was erased by municipality employees.

Also, the District Peace Committee expressed satisfaction over the peaceful passage of Ashura in the district.

The meeting was addressed by ulema, the DCO, District Police Officer Sohail Habib Tajik and traders. The committee demanded review of the ulema on gagging and Fourth Schedule list, detained and banned from entering the district.