HYDERABAD, Jan 23: The district president of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Maulana Abdul Waheed Qureshi, has demanded of the Sindh government and the provincial assembly to declare Urdu and Sindhi as the officials languages of the province.

In a statement issued here on Thursday, he welcomed the decision of the NWFP government to declare Urdu as the official language of the province, adding that Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had categorically declared that Urdu will be the official language of Pakistan.

He regretted that vested interest had distorted the nation’s identity by declaring the language of imperialists as the official language of the country.

He called for an official announcement by the Sindh government to declare Sindhi and Urdu as the only official languages of the province.

DOWRY GRANT: The general secretary of the All-Pakistan Trade Unions’ Organisation, Mehboob Ali Qureshi, has called upon relevant authorities to release dowry grant for 2001-2002 without any further delay.

Criticizing the delay in release of the grant in a statement issued here on Thursday, he said that the Sindh Workers’ Welfare Board usually released Rs30,000 each for two daughters of an industrial worker and forms were issued by the Board in Oct 2001.

He said that after scrutiny of the forms, a list was prepared but the grant was not released during the financial year, which ended on June 30, 2002, adding that this had created unrest among the workers.

He said that the new forms for 2002-2003 had also not been issued.

Qureshi demanded of the federal labour minister, the secretary and the provincial minister for labour to ensure the release of the dowry grant for 2001-2002 and the issuance of forms for 2002-2003.

criminals held: The Regional Police Officer, Hyderabad, on Thursday informed that the district police had arrested four criminals and recovered four pistols, along with 10 bullets and four cartridges, while the Dadu police arrested three absconders, the Thatta police arrested one Patharedar, the Badin police arrested one absconder, the Mirpurkhas police arrested one absconder while the Sanghar district police arrested four absconders.

SPSC: The Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC), Hyderabad, has announced the names of eligible candidates, who were interviewed by the Commission for the post of physicians and orthopaedic surgeon (BPS-18) in the health department.

The Commission found 13 candidates fit for the posts and recommended their names to the government of Sindh for appointment against the said posts.