BAHAWALPUR: The Sammsatta police on Sunday claimed to have arrested the main suspect in the acid attack case.

The suspect, Afzal, along with his four accomplices had allegedly thrown acid on a girl, Samina, for refusing his marriage proposal. Police have arrested Afzal and Abdul Khaliq while three other suspects were absconding. Samina is in serious condition in the Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH).

Punjab Minister for Cooperatives Malik Muhammad Iqbal Channar visited the BVH and inquired after Samina. He directed the doctors to take special care of the victim and assured her family that the remaining suspects would be arrested at the earliest.

DEMAND: People from different walks of life demanded the Punjab government withdraw its decision of handing over 75 informal/community primary schools in Cholistan to an NGO instead of running them through the Cholistan Development Authority (CDA) or Punjab Education Foundation (PEF).

Those who made the demand included PTI District President Farzand Ali Gohar, JUI’s Allama Shafqatur Rehman, JI district emir Dr Muhammad Ashraf, PPP’s Saira Abbasi and Awami Tehreek President Dr Muhammad Aamir.

They said the government had recently agreed to run schools and the CDA and PEF had signed an MoU to manage them with the PEF funds. However, an NGO was also being involved to run the affairs of these schools, they said, adding that the teachers had expressed apprehensions that the NGO would not be able to deliver and the CDA or PEF should directly handle the schools.