SIALKOT, Feb 28: Punjab Minister for Industries Mohammad Ajmal Cheema has said that the provincial government would soon announce a special package of incentives to attract investment in the newly-established Sialkot Export Processing Zone (EPZ).

Talking to newsmen here on Thursday, he said that the Punjab government was making all-out efforts for establishing a maximum number of factories in the province for boosting the national economy and eradicating unemployment.

He said that the present government would evolve long-term trade and export policies in consultation with the business community, as the government was committed to injecting new life into the sick economy.

For creating a business-friendly environment in the province, the government would provide cheap electricity, subsidise gas for the industrial and export sectors and issue soft-term loans to the SMEs.

The minister disclosed that the government would soon introduce a fixed tax as well as a one-window operation for exporters.

The minister said the government would also motivate overseas Pakistanis and foreign investors to invest in the Sialkot international airport project.

TWO KILLED: Two traders were killed on Friday in an accident on the GT Road near Eimanabad.

Sher Muhammad and Nadeem Butt were coming back to Sialkot after dropping their relatives at Lahore airport by a car.

Near Eimanabad, their speeding car swerved off the road and into the ravine, killing both of them on the spot.

Police are going into the matter.

FIVE GET DEATH: Four convicts were handed down death sentences with heavy fines in different murder cases by courts in Sialkot.

An additional district and sessions judge awarded a death sentence and fined Rs50,000 to Allah Rakha for killing Naeem Khalid in Chak Lala village, Sialkot Saddar, over a land dispute on Aug 28, 2000.

A Daska additional district and sessions judge given a death sentence with a fine of Rs100,000 to Muazzam Raza in a famous murder case of Sambrial, Daska.

A Sialkot court handed down death sentence and fined Rs50,000 to Muhammad Ashraf of Burj Arayian village (Daska) in a murder case of Bambanwala.

Convict Imran was awarded a death sentence with a fine of Rs20,000 by a Sialkot court in a murder case of Pakki Kotli village, Sialkot Saddar.

STATUE FOUND: Pasrur police will hand over a marble-made ancient statue to the Punjab Archeology Department.

Labourers found the statue on Thursday last while digging an ancient house in Muhallah Jinnah Gate, Pasrur.

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