Rally demands end to ties with France

LAHORE
THE Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) on Tuesday took out a massive rally at Punjab University (PU) New Campus against the recent publication of blasphemous caricatures and demanded the government to end diplomatic and economic ties with France.
The rally attended by a large number of male and female students started from the varsity’s Islamic Centre and culminated at the Faisal Auditorium.
At the end of the rally, a joint resolution was also passed which demanded the government to immediately end every kind of import and export business with France.
The resolution also demanded the prime minister of Pakistan to play his role to convene a meeting of the OIC and UN Security Council and announce a joint plan of action on behalf of the Muslim Ummah. It also demanded the PM to announce and lead a national level demonstration over the sacrilegious cartoons.
Addressing the rally, PU chapter IJT Nazim Abdul Muqeet said youth of the country would never hesitate to sacrifice their lives for the honour of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). He said the rulers should show some courage by expelling the French ambassador from Pakistan and play their role for introducing international law against such blasphemous acts.
Earlier, the rally participants, carrying placards, also chanted slogans and expressed anger over the issue.
Meanwhile, PU Teachers Front (PU-TF) has also condemned the publication of blasphemous caricatures in French newspaper terming it an extremely condemnable act.
According to a press release, PU-TF held a meeting on Tuesday in this regard in which members expressed anger over the publication of sacrilegious caricatures. Prof Amir Ejaz, Prof Dr Shazia Qureshi, Dr Hassan Mobeen Alam, Dr Mahboob Hussain and other members attended the meeting.
The meeting termed it a conspiracy to infuriate Muslims around the world.
WCR: World Council of Religions (WCR); a representative platform of different religions practising in Pakistan has condemned the criminal act of publishing self-imagined sketches of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
According to a press release, WCR leadership stated that it believed no follower of any religion could do such misconduct. It is entirely the act of such people who wanted to disturb the peace process among religions in the world.
The members of the Supreme Council of the World Council of Religions (WCR) who condemned blasphemous sketches included Maulana Hanif Jalandhry, Maulana Yasin Zafar, Bishop Samual Azariah, Maulana Abdul Maalik, Qari Roohullah Madani, Qazi Niaz Hussain Naqvi, Bishop Munawar Rumal Shah and Hafiz Nauman Hamid.
security: Punjab Food Minister Bilal Yasin has termed security arrangements at Govt College for Women, Gulberg unsatisfactory.
He directed the college principal to immediately install alarm system and set up control room in the college. He directed principal of a private school to further raise boundary wall of the campus and deploy security guards.
The minister visited various educational institutions of Lahore and checked security arrangements on Tuesday.
reshuffled: The Punjab government has issued a notification regarding transfers and postings of following officers on Tuesday.
Amir Shahzad, DOCHRM Shorkot, has been transferred and posted as Assistant Commissioner Shorkot while Iftekhar Hussain, Sub-Registrar Urban-II Rawalpindi, has been made Officer on Special Duty, and was directed to report to Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD).
LDA: Staff of Town Planning Wing of Lahore Development Authority retrieved 528-kanal land after demolishing a number of illegal constructions on Tuesday.
The LDA demolished two illegally constructed boundary walls around industrial units at Katcha Road. Six boundary walls constructed for covering vast areas of land in village Thay Punja along Butchar Khana distributary were removed. The LDA demolished an office and a boundary wall of an illegal housing scheme, Al-Zaib Villas, in village Sidhar.
The governing body of LDA has decided to start development of LDA City Housing Scheme in phases and started taking lands from villages Kahna and Sidhar and their adjoining areas in first phase for the development works. It has also decided for construction of an additional access road having a width of 150 feet from Ferozepur Road to Kahna Katcha Road.