Teachers, Apca, traders to form alliance for Seraiki province

MULTAN: Teacher unions, labour organisations, trade unions, All Pakistan Clerks Association and civil society activists have decided to form a grand alliance to accelerate the struggle for the creation of the Seraiki province.

It was said by Punjab Teachers Union senior vice president Rana Altaf Hussain while addressing a press conference here. Punjab Teachers Union office-bearers Abid Farid Buzdar, Riaz Ahmed Asif, Prof Inayat Ali Qureshi, Rana Muhammad Iqbal Nayar and Muhammad Shahid Rizvi were also present in the press conference. Rana Altaf Hussain said that the region was presenting an extreme picture of neglect and all the professional bodies would launch a restless struggle in this connection.

He said that all professional bodies of teachers, labourers, Apca and civil society had convened an extensive session of consultation in Multan on Thursday (today) to develop a unanimous charter of demands for the creation of the Seraiki province.

Criticising the legislators from the south Punjab region, he said that they did not take serious notice over the basic public demand of separate province. He said that the role of legislators largely disappointed people of this remote and most neglected region. He said that all the professional bodies had decided to form a united alliance to launch a restless struggle for separate province.

Rana Altaf Hussein said that the grand alliance had also planned encircling the Parliament House and observing a long march to Punjab Chief Minister House. Thousands of workers of professional bodies and civil society members would join the long march, he claimed.

GIRL WHO WAS BURNT BY IN-LAWS DIES AT HOSPITAL: A 24-year-old girl, who was allegedly burnt by her in-laws on February 17, died at the Multan Burn Hospital on Wednesday. Reportedly, the in-laws of Maryam Bibi allegedly burnt her and she was shifted to the hospital in critical condition where she died.

Her mother- in-law Mukhtar Bibi and her husband’s sister Tania allegedly burnt her when she was busy working in kitchen over a domestic feud, the police said. Both the ladies allegedly sprayed petrol around her body from her back and burnt her, the police claimed.

Maryam Bibi was quickly removed to the hospital for medical treatment but she succumbed to her burns. Chelyak police took her body to morgue for postmortem and started investigation against the accused.