BAHAWALPUR: At least 10 children were injured, three of them seriously, when the wall of a seminary where they were studying collapsed here on Tuesday.

According to Rescue 1122 District Officer Dr Malik Asif Channar, the children were learning their lesson at the Madressah Imam Bokhari on Multan Road when an under-construction wall of a room collapsed on them. As a result, he said, 10 children were trapped under the debris and injured.

On receipt of information, the rescuers rushed to scene and pulled the injured children out of the debris, he added.

Mr Channar said the three children who suffered serious injuries were shifted to the Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH), where they were being given treatment.

The injured include Zeeshan, Mehtab, Urfan, Abdul Rehman, Farooq, Usman, Allah Wasaya, Younus and Adeel. According to hospital sources, they were out of danger.

ATTACKED: A Multan Electric Power Company team was attacked during an operation against power bills defaulters and their accomplices.

According to Executive Engineer Khawaja Niaz, who led the Mepco team, several tubewell owners who had defaulted on payment of Mepco dues of over Rs50 million attacked the officials when they were removing their transformers in the presence of police.

He said some Mepco employees were injured in the attack.

The EXEN said the police station concerned would be approached by the department for registration of a case against the attacking defaulters.

PROTEST: The clerks and other lower staff of various government departments staged a sit-in at Farid Gate, besides taking out a rally, to press for acceptance of their demands.

They sought upgrade of their pay scales and promotions which, they said, were pledged by Punjab government last month (November).

The protesters gathered at Farid Gate, where they staged a sit-in and later marched on Baghdad Road and reached DIG Chowk, where they staged a demonstration and raised slogans against the government. They threatened to observe a strike if their demands were not met by Dec15.

Because of the protest, the official work and public dealing in government offices was disrupted.