GILGIT, March 6: The Northern Areas administration has asked all government employees to resume their duties on Monday for which security guards and buses have been arranged to pick and drop them, official sources said.

The offices, hospitals and educational institutions have been empty since the violence in Gilgit on Jan 8 in which 17 people including top Shia scholar Agha Ziauddin Rizvi were killed.

The sources said that it was not clear if the orders are applicable to the schools and colleges which were not opened after the winter vacations for the fear of fresh violence. They said that the decision to open the schools would remain pending until a permanent solution is found to resolve the curriculum issue in the region which is reportedly a major factor behind the current unrest.

According to a report the new Shia leader and the successor to the late Agha Rizvi, Syed Rahat Hussain Al-Hussaini, has renewed the long standing demand of finding a solution to the school curriculum otherwise they would never allow their followers to attend the schools which are closed for the last two months including the newly established Karakuram International University.-Correspondent