SANGHAR, Aug 1: A constable was killed and two others were injured including an inspector in an encounter with dacoits near the Anwar Qureshi village on Thursday.

Five dacoits attacked the Ghani Brohi village and tried to kidnap two men, Abdullah and Kamdar Ibban Kumbhar. However, they were challenged by the villagers and an exchange of fire took place. The dacoits fled.

Soon DSP Altaf Qadri and DSP Birhamani arrived at the spot along with a heavy police contingent and started looking for the dacoits. When they came close to a sugarcane field, the dacoits opened fire on them and injured an inspector, Punhal Faqeer Unnar, and a constable, Bijar Khan Zardari.

DPO Ghulam Qadir Thebo also arrived there and supervized the operation. A heavy police force entered the sugarcane field with the help of an APC and tractors. They opened fire as a result of which a constable, Mir Khan, was accidentally killed.

AIG Abdul Rauf Yousufzai also arrived at the site.

Till the filing of this report, the encounter between the police and dacoits was going on.

FARMERS: Farmer associations have demanded that the spot rates of cotton should be telecast through the PTV Khabarnama (news bulletin).

Hasan Askari, general secretary of the Small Growers’ Association, and Yar Mohammad Laghari, of the Abadgar Association, told Dawn that thousands of farmers, belonging to the far-flung areas, used to rely upon the PTV Khabarnama for the latest rates of cotton, but the PTV had stopped telecasting this vital information.

The farmers complained that the traders, residing mostly in the urban areas, were informed of the fluctuations in the cotton market, used this information

to exploit the ill-informed farmers.

They appealed to the PTV high-ups to include cotton rates in the news bulletin to keep the small farmers informed.

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