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GUJRANWALA, Nov 28: Fire destroyed over 250 shops in Wazirabad’s Landa Bazaar and dozens of adjacent shelters belonging to people from tribal areas in the wee hours of Wednesday.
The shops were located under an overhead bridge. They were engulfed by a fire, which broke out at a shop in Landa Bazaar. The fire also engulfed nearby shelters.
Later, fire brigades were called from Gujrat and Gujranwala, which put out the fire after three hours. The fire also damaged transmission lines of 11KV and electricity poles, suspending electricity supply to certain areas. However, the power supply was later restored. The cause of fire could not be known.
Due to the fire, traffic remained suspended on GT Road for three hours. A special train carrying Sikh pilgrims had to stop at Wazirabad Railway Station for two hours. The loss to shopkeepers has been estimated worth Rs80 million.
District administration official Muhammad Iqbal Warraich said the market was set up illegally and he had asked the Punjab government a few months ago to remove it. It is learnt that 80 per cent shopkeepers of the market belonged to Bajaur Agency.
DEPORTEES ARRESTED: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested 102 more people, deported by the Turkish government, from the Islamabad airport and brought them to Gujranwala on Wednesday.
Gujranwala FIA (passport cell) additional director Hussain Asgher said that agents had extorted Rs600,000 each from the arrested deportees to send them abroad some three months back.
He said these people, arrested by the border security personnel in Turkey, were being quizzed. He said they would be sent to jail on judicial remand.
Some deportees alleged that agents did not offer them food or water to drink and forced them to walk on foot for several miles in night hours.
REJECTED: Nomination papers of nine aspirants of political parties, including the PPP and the MQM, were rejected by returning officers during the scrutiny process here on Wednesday.
Returning officers rejected nomination papers of PPP city secretary-general Zeeshan Ilyas for PP-91, MQM aspirant Tokey Khan, Hafiz Mohsin Jawad, Amjad Awan, Shahzad Hafiz, Chaudhry Ashraf Ali, Lala Zahid Ansari, Lala Shahid Ansari and Sabir Butt on different allegations.
