KASUR, March 11: Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri said on Sunday

defence of the country was the top priority of the government because of the volatile situation of the region.

Kasuri told reporters at the Chunian tehsil council hall that Pakistan wanted peace and stability in Afghanistan and the resolution to the Kashmir dispute which was correlated with the peace in the region. He said despite facing difficulties, Pakistan was pursuing a successful foreign policy and had good relations with the US and China. He said Pakistan was manufacturing high-tech aircrafts in collaboration with China.

Addressing several public meetings, he said a security plan to maintain law and order in Kasur would be made after the posting of district police officer. The office of the DPO has been lying vacant for the last one month.

Rana Abad Khan, Chunian tehsil nazim, Bakhtiar Kasuri, district naib nazim, Haji Maqsood Sabir Ansari and Mian Sana Khaliq Karimi were also present.

Rape charge: The parents of a teenaged girl from Bhamba Kalaha have alleged that a teacher made their teenaged daughter pregnant. The girl later got an abortion.

The mother of class eight student `S’ said that she came to know about the matter when the girl was five months pregnant. When the family pressured her, she said that her tutor had `raped’ her. The accused who runs a tuition centre in the village is the father of six and had been fired from a private school in for his “bad” character.

The villagers came to know about the issue when the girl was brought to a private hospital on Raiwind Road for an abortion. Confirming her abortion, her mother demanded an immediate arrest of the accused. She said that her husband was a labourer on a brick kiln and had no access to senior police officials. She denied the allegation that her family had accepted Rs40,000 from the accused to bury the issue. She said that on the complaint of villagers police arrested the accused but released him a few hours later when a union council nazim intervened.

A villager, requesting anonymity, said the accused teacher had also ruined the life of another unmarried woman, who had to leave the village with her family. — Correspondent