SIALKOT, Oct 20: Eight armed highwaymen late Saturday night looted a school bus and injured seriously a religious scholar during two robbery incidents on the Sehjokey-Daska-Sambrial Road.

This was the second bus robbery in Daska tehsil during the last two days.

Students and female teachers of Aligarh Public School were going back to Majra village from Lahore by bus (GST-1468). Near Sehjokey village, armed robbers stopped the bus and deprived the students and their teachers of Rs30,000 in cash, wristwatches, ornaments, four cameras, a movie camera and other valuables.

In the meantime, armed highwaymen also intercepted a car (LHR-8542) which was going to Daska from Sambrial. They made hostage Daska-based religious scholar Sahibzada Qari Muhammad Ashraf Naqshbandi and his women family members. The robbers snatched ornaments worth Rs200,000 from women and also injured seriously the scholar for putting up resistance. Later, they escaped with the booty while firing in the air. The injured scholar was admitted to the Daska civil hospital in critical condition.

CONDEMNED: The Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry has strongly condemned the increase in petrol prices.

In a press release issued here on Saturday, SCCI’s vice president Malik Ashraf said the increase in petrol and diesel prices would cause decline in exports as production cost would increase.

Expressing grave concern over the situation, he said exporters would not be able to compete with other countries due to the high production cost of Pakistani exportable items.

He said prices of commodities automatically went up with the increase in petrol prices. He urged the government to revise downward the prices of petrol and diesel.