TOBA TEK SINGH: A Faisalabad Federal Immigration Agency (FIA) immigration team arrested three survivors of a Libyan boat accident that occurred on March 22 and the suspected human agent at Faisalabad airport on Friday.

The survivors -- Nadeem Abbas, Muhammad Awais and Zaigham Ali – were arrested when they returned from Libya on emergency passports.

An FIA spokesperson said that during initial interrogation, the survivors said that suspected human agent Muhammad Bilal Salman had received millions of rupees from them to facilitate their journey to Greece via Libya. Bilal was present at the airport to receive them.

The entire parking area at the airport was surrounded, leading to the arrest of Bilal at the parking area.

Bilal had connections with international human traffickers, and records of transactions made by him to an international gang were recovered from him. All three returnees and their agent were handed over to the human trafficking circle of FIA for further action and investigation.

MURDER: The senior vice president of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in Toba Tek Singh district was murdered in Gojra on Thursday allegedly over a property dispute.

According to the FIR filed with the Gojra City police, complainant Shahid Mahmood Samra said that his brother, advocate Irfan Samra, was on his way on a motorcycle from the Sitara City locality when two unidentified motorcyclists shot at and injured him. He was rushed to Gojra THQ hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

The killers were sent by Atif, Haseeb, and Zaheer, with whom the deceased had a dispute over the ownership of a residential plot. The police were conducting raids to arrest the suspects.

PTI-SIC MNA Usama Hamza demanded the arrest of the assassins of the PTI leader.

FATAL COLLISION: Four members of the same family were killed and 18 passengers of a van were injured in a collision between a car and a van near Pharala Mor lnear Dijkot on the Faisalabad-Multan Road on Thursday.

The deceased, who hailed from Faisalabad’s Hajveri Town locality, were identified as Zulfiqar Ali, his wife Uzma Bibi, their son Ahsan and daughter Ayesha Bibi.

Among the 18 injured passengers of the van, who were shifted to Dijkot rural health centre and Allied and DHQ hospitals, were Kiran Shahzadi and her daughters Sana and Sara, Sehar Bibi, Rasheed, Khurshid and his two brothers Ali Hamza and Javed, Khadim, Adnan, Shagufta, Aiza, Baboo, Asghar, Aslam, Iqbal Bibi, Kiran and her daughter Asma.

FOREST FIRE: Scores of trees were burnt in a fire which broke out in Punjab’s second-largest government-owned forest located in Kamalia tehsil along the river Ravi late on Thursday night.

Assistant Commissioner Ghazala Yasin Chadhar visited on Friday the forest area affected by the fire. She was briefed by Punjab forest department officials about the damage caused to the forest due the fire.

The AC directed the officials to hold an inquiry into the matter to know the cause of the fire and the damage to the forest area.

On the occasion, she praised Rescue 1122 and Kamalia Municipal Committee firefighters for the hectic efforts they made to extinguish the fire.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2024