TOBA TEK SINGH: Seven people allegedly killed a youth and injured two of his brothers after exchange of harsh words on a billiard game row in Kamalia on Monday.

According to the Kamalia city police, Shahid and Mudassar quarreled in the billiard club in the Bhaghai Wala locality. Some people mediated reconciliation but after an hour, Mudassar and his six accomplices arrived at the house of Shahid and attacked him and his brothers Arif and Shahbaz. They injured the three brothers and fled.

The family admitted the three brothers to the Kamalia Tehsil Headquarters Hospital from where doctors referred Shahid to Faisalabad Allied Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

Police registered a case against seven people and arrested Mudassar and Afzal while raids were being conducted to arrest others.

HEROES: A function was held on Monday at Gojra under the auspices of the Youth Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Pakistan-Bangladesh-Bharat People’s Forum to observe the 84th death anniversary of independence movement heroes Bhaghat Singh, Rajpal and Sukh Dev.

Candles were lit in their memory while a selected gathering was addressed by Advocate Rana Umair Ahmad, Kiran Ashraf, Gulzar Baig, Haji Sadiq, Azlan Shah, Amjad Islam, Iqbal Janbaz and Saqib Butt.

They paid a tribute to the three heroes and demanded the Gojra municipal administrator name Gojra-Jhupal Nagar Chowk, Dijkot Road and Moongi Road after the three “martyrs of independence”.

MEETING: Speakers at a meeting by the Citizens Network for Budget Accountability (CNBA) on Monday demanded local government elections in the province.

CNBA representative from Lahore Syed Kausar Abbas said CNBA members would conduct a survey on the budget making process in Toba Tek Singh and other districts to monitor the performance of budget officials under the Punjab Budget Rules. After that the CNBA would organise consultative sessions in districts of Punjab with the stakeholders and district officials to make the budget process participatory.

He criticised the district finance and planning department for not consulting the stakeholders of the district. Muhammad Shahid and Tahir Zeshan also spoke.

Published in Dawn March 24th, 2015