TOBA TEK SINGH: The only train 11-Up, 12-Down Hazara Express that runs via Jhang through the Shorkot-Jhang section between Karachi and Havelian (KP), breached during the flood, was restored on Tuesday after a gap of four months.

A 500-foot wide section of the railway track linking Jhang with Sargodha via Riwaz Railway Bridge on Chenab River was breached on Aug 30 to save Jhang city, Trimmu Headworks (facing combined thrust of Chenab and Jhelum rivers) and Chund Bharwana Bridge on Jhang-Sargodha Road during heavy flood in Chenab River.

A locomotive test run was successfully done on the restored portion of the track on Monday and Pakistan Railways Jhang area inspector had declared the track fit for allowing traffic but with direction to limiting the speed of 10km per hour on two km repaired track.

The Hazara Express train had been running during a four months suspension period on an alternate route via Shorkot-Toba Tek Singh-Faisalabad-Sargodha.

Track was breached to save Jhang and Trimmu Headworks in flood four months back

A railways source said more than Rs70m were spent on repairing the breached track and work was assigned to the National Logistics Cell (NLC).

SHOT DEAD: Two people were killed in a shoot-out between two groups over an old enmity near Chak 220-JB Ghanwan on Faisalabad Road of Jhang.

Rescue 1122 report said that Mumtaz Hussain Naul (20) and his uncle Amanullah Naul (48) received multiple bullets due to which both died on the spot.

The relatives of the deceased refused to shift the bodies to the hospital and placed them on the Faisalabad Road. As a result, traffic remained suspended on the road for more than one hour.

Police officers held talks with protesters and assured them that the killers would be arrested at the earliest. At this, they allowed the shifting of bodies to the Jhang DHQ Hospital for autopsy.

Sources said Baloch and Naul tribes had an old enmity and a number of people from both sides had been murdered in the past.

DEATH SENTENCE: Additional District and Sessions Judge Shafaaqat Ali handed down death sentence and fine of Rs1m to a man in a robbery-cum-murder case.

The court sentenced the convict for seven years for committing robbery.

Nadeem Farhat Dogar had shot dead a cattle trader, Muhammad Nadeem Hameed, near Chak 343-JB over resistance while snatching money from him when he was returning home after selling animals on May 15, 2024. Another accused of the same case was killed in an encounter with police recently.

DROWNS: An infant girl drowned in the water tub at her home at Chak 319-GB, Pirmahal.

Reports said 18-month-old Aiza, daughter of Abid, was playing in the courtyard and suddenly entered the washroom.

She slipped into the tub and drowned. Her family searched her everywhere and when they reached the washroom after 20 minutes they found her dead.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2025