MIRPURKHAS, Dec 15: At least 50,000 maunds of cotton were reduced to ashes as a result of a fire in a cotton and ginning factory near Khipro town on Sindhri-Khipro road on Thursday. The fire engulfed a big area which gutted 50,000 maunds of cotton bales .

The factory manager, Ramesh, complained that the fire tenders were called in from Khipro, Sindhri and Mirpurkhas which reached two hours late. He said that other materials were also burnt.

ST: The activists of Sunni Tehrik, Mirpurkhas, observed a token hunger strike on Friday in front of press club to protest police failure to arrest terrorists involved in Nishtar Park incident.

Iltamas Sabir, district convenor Abdul Latif Qadri, Imran Qadri, Ali Abdullah Qadri, Javed Jafri, Mushtaq and others observed participated in the hunger strike. Speaking on the occasion Iltamas Sabir condemned police failure to arrest terrorists involved in the incident.He said that President General Pervez Musharraf had assured arrest of those involved but failed to fulfil his commitment.