HYDERABAD, Dec 21: Residents took to the streets, pelted vehicles with stones and lit bonfires after a two-year-old boy fell into an open drain in Latifabad-12 on Sunday evening.

The boy who fell into the drain near Johar Colony was identified as Osama, son of Imran Qureshi. His body was recovered later.

The protesters, including family members of the boy, raised slogans against the Latifabad Taluka Municipal Administration and the HDA.

They criticized the civic bodies for not covering open drains.

Taluka Nazim Abdul Jabbar Khan, DPO A. D. Khawaja and TPO Khalid Mustafa Korai arrived there and visited the house of the deceased boy. They were surrounded by the residents.

While they were returning, some of the residents threw stones on them, hitting the TPO.

The Nazim told this correspondent that the HDA had to look after the drain.

The DPO and the Nazim assured the protesters that their grievance would be redressed.

The protesters demanded that the drain should be covered and its side walls be raised.

CONFERENCE: Over 50 research papers were read on medical research and ethics and common health problems on the second day of a three-day international conference being held at the LUMHS auditorium in Jamshoro on Saturday.

The conference is being organized by the Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America

A national seminar on higher medical and dental education was also held on the occasion, which was presided over by the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences vice-chancellor Professor (Dr) Jan Mohammad Memon.

Rules and procedure for postgraduate courses, examinations and training modalities were also discussed in detail.

The APPNA conference is being attended by 56 professors from Canada, UK, USA and other countries and 1200 doctors from Sindh and other provinces of the country, including the representatives of the Isra, Ziauddin and Hamdard medical universities.