BAHAWALPUR: Four persons, including a woman and her minor daughter, suffered burns in two different fire incidents involving gas cylinders inLodhran and Bahawalpur during the last 24 hours.
In the first incident, a housewife, Shazia (30) and her three-year-old daughter Noor Fatima suffered serious burns when a gas cylinder caught fire in the kitchen of their house at Basti Haroon near Chamb Mor in Lodhran district on Tuesday night.
According to Lodhran Rescue 1122 media coordinator, the incident occurred when the woman lit a matchstick in the kitchen where gas had accumulated due to a cylinder-mounted stove left turned on.
As a result, the mother and her minor daughter suffered serious burns and were shifted to the DHQ hospital for treatment.
In the second incident occurring in Bahawalpur’s Khokha Market near the general bus stand, two men suffered burns when a fire erupted in a shop during gas decanting process.
Rescue 1122 firefighters, reaching the spot on an emergency call, controlled the blaze in a half-an-hour-long operation.The two men -- Khizer Hayat (50) andJani (25) – who were injured seriously in the incident, were rushed to Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH), Bahawalpur.
RAPE BID: Gaggo Mandi police in Vehari district booked a security guard of a Divisional Public Schoolfor attempting to rape a female teacher at gunpoint, taking her objectionable pictures, and extorting cash and gold jewellery worth over Rs2.5 million from her.
According to district police spokesperson, though the incident occurred about three months ago, the complainant, ‘AH’ recently reported it tothe Gaggo Mandi police, which registered the FIR No 656/26 against the suspect under sections 376, 511 and 292 of the PPC.
In her FIR, the victim statedthat she was appointed as a junior teacher in the Divisional Public School (DPS) at Gaggo Mandion April 28, 2025.
According to her, a school security guard, Imran Rasool, met her and claimed that he had contacts with some influential persons and could get her appointed as a senior teacher in BS-17 in the school.
She said that she fell in the trap, and started giving money to the guard. She said that she paid a total Rs671,000 in cash and gold jewellery worth Rs1890,000 to the suspect, but he did not arrange a better job for her.
The complainant said that about three months ago, the suspect called her to school on a holiday on the pretext of returning her jewellery. She alleged that when she reached there, the suspectled her to a nearby building, where he attempted to rape her at gunpoint and took her objectionable pictures with his mobile phone.
She said that she offered stiff resistance and managed to escape from there.
She said the suspect, who was still at large, was blackmailing her by threatening to post her objectionable pictures on social media.
BCCI DEMAND: The Bahawalpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) has demanded the government restore the provincial status of Bahawalpur and make its airport functional.
According to the BCCI press release issued here on Wednesday, its executive committee, in a meeting, adopted a resolution, saying Bahawalpur had been a separate province before the introduction of One-Unit and had a unique historic, legal, administrative, economic and political status, which should be restored.
It adds that as the local population, especially the trading and business community, faced difficulties in travelling long distances, the closed Bahawalpur airport, which had been closed for many year, should be made functional, with restoration of flight operation.
In another resolution, the BCCI demanded that Bahawalpur be linked to the Multan-Sukkur motorway through an additional interchange near the city, as the Jhangra interchange was far away from the city, causing inconvenience to those intending to use the motorway.
Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2026