MULTAN, Nov 5: The Bahawalpur church tragedy could have been avoided if law enforcement agencies had taken some precautionary measures in the backdrop of attacks on Afghanistan.

This was stated by Punjab IGP Malik Asif Hayat while talking to newsmen here on Monday.

He said scores of suspects had been arrested and were being interrogated, but so far police did not succeed in getting a worthwhile clue.

The police, he claimed, had tracked down the outlaws who had gunned down Sadiq Kanju and were also involved in sectarian killings in the south Punjab. They would soon be arrested and made known to the public, he said.

The IGP warned no religious organization would be allowed to violate law and order on Nov 9, adding that violators would be brought to book.

TCP: Growers are suffering substantial losses as the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has yet not started purchasing cotton.

This was stated by former national assembly speaker Syed Fakhar Imam in a press release issued here on Monday.

He said since the production target had not been achieved in some areas, the government should provide credit facilities to growers to meet their input expenditures for timely sowing of wheat.

In the wake of acute irrigation water shortage, the growers should be accorded relief with 30 per cent reduction in power charges of tubewells and 25 per cent cut in oil prices, he said.

He expressed his concern that on the one hand cotton growers were suffering heavy losses due to severe pest attack while on the other they were getting raw cotton price less than the support price fixed by the government.

SHOT DEAD: Two unidentified assailants shot dead a man and injured another seriously in Peer Khurshid Colony here on Monday.