GILGIT, July 21 An eleven-year-old girl, who was forced to marry a man, reached a local court and sought divorce, officials said here on Tuesday.

Fairoza requested the court to save her life as her husband, Noor Mohammad, a resident of Jaglote, and mother-in-law were torturing her on daily basis. Officials said that the girl told the court that she had been facing physical torture for a long time.

She reportedly said that her mother had taken Rs10,000 for the marriage from the accused who was now demanding Rs60,000 to get a divorce. She told the court that during torture her teeth were broken and nails were removed. The court handed over the girl to a local family under police escort till settlement of the case.

The police said a case had been registered against Noor Mohammad and his father but they had been disappeared. Police were conducting raids to arrest the accused.

NATCO TRUCKS The Northern Areas Transport Corporation (Natco) would spend Rs160 million on new vehicles to include more trucks in its fleet.

A spokesman for the organisation told this correspondent that services of 75 contractual employees were also being regularised. The decisions in this regard were taken during a meeting of the board of governors held under the chairmanship of Northern Areas chief secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Mohammad here the other day.

ANTI-POLIO DRIVE A three-day anti-polio campaign was launched throughout Gilgit-Baltistan and 209,805 children would be administered drops, health officials said.

They said that 1,078 mobile teams were taking part in the campaign while 96 supervisors were leading the campaign. According to officials a control room at provincial level had been set up while six control rooms were working at district level.