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SIALKOT, Feb 20: The district government decided on Wednesday to demolish dozens of centuries-old mausoleums in Imam Sahib graveyard to implement the city development programme of the previous regime.
Graves of the ancestors of Allama Iqbal, the poet of the east, will also be levelled to widen the Hajipura-Naikapura Road.
Work on the project will be started soon after Eid holidays, district government authorities decided at a special meeting here.
It was learnt that the authorities failed to convince the heirs of the people buried in the marked area of the graveyard during the meeting but decided to go-ahead.
About two years ago, the Sialkot Municipal Corporation planned to demolish the graves to widen the Hajipura-Naikapura Road. Protests by the people from all walks of life forced the then municipal authorities to shelve the plan.
Meanwhile, various social welfare and religious organizations have in separate press releases expressed grave concern over the district government decision.
They warned that no body would be allowed to disgrace the scarcity of these graves.
TRADER LOOTED: Two dacoits shot at and injured a trader after looting Rs2 million in cash from him on Railway Road, Sialkot city, on Wednesday.
Irfan, 47, was on his way to Kasur after withdrawing Rs2 million from a bank on Railway Road when he was intercepted by two armed men. When the trader resisted, the bandits opened fire on him, injuring him seriously, and fled on a motorcycle with the loot.
The injured was admitted to the Allama Iqbal Memorial Hospital, Sialkot, in critical condition.
Kotwali police have registered a case.
