GILGIT, Oct 29: At least 61 prisoners escaped from the Chilas prison of the Diamer district, 150km from here, on Saturday night.

Sources told Dawn that the prisoners had escaped from the jail by breaking open jail doors during the night, while five guards had been on routine duty.

However, police sources said that 29 of those escaped from the jail had been re-arrested.

CONVOY STOPPED: The protesters, who have blocked the Karakoram Highway (KKH) since Thursday, stopped at least 50 Chinese trucks, carrying relief goods for Afghan refugees at the Jaglote area, 25km from here.

The Chinese government pledged the goods, mainly blankets, tents and foot-wares, for the refugees who arrived in on Saturday.

Due to tension along the KKH in Diamer and Kohistan districts, the protesters stopped trucks at the Jaglote area.

Sources said the protesters had demanded that the goods be given to them, saying they would distribute the goods among the refugees themselves.

NALC MEETING: The speaker of the Northern Areas Legislative Council (NALC), Sahib Khan, has convened an extraordinary meeting of the council on Monday at the council hall here to discuss the situation that arose due to the blockade of the Karakoram Highway (KKH) by the protesters at Diamer and Kohistan.

RALLY HELD:The Imamia Students Organization, Gilgit division, held its annual convention and took out a rally here on Sunday to condemn the US attacks on Afghanistan.

ISO leader Saeed-ul-Hasnain said the US was deliberately targeting the people because it had been a supporter of Taliban.

The United States was the biggest terrorist of the world, and it wanted to hit Pakistan, Iran and other Islamic stats on the pretext of targeting Afghanistan.

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