Briefs...

ANP activists join PTI
By our correspondent
NOWSHERA: Office-bearers of the Awami National Party (ANP) in Amankot joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday. Speaking at a public meeting in Amankot Union Council, ANP office-bearers Saifullah Khalid, Taj Muhammad, Jalaluddin and others announced joining PTI. They said that the decision of quitting ANP was due to the party leadership’s lack of interest in workers’ problems. They said ANP had abandoned Bacha Khan’s ideology.

150,000 to be administered
polio drops in Charsadda
By our correspondent
CHARSADDA: Around 150,000 children would be administered polio drops as the three-day anti-polio drive kicked off in the district today (Sunday). Assistant Commissioner Noor Wali Khan said that 900 polio teams had been constituted to administered anti-polio drops to around 150,000 children. About170 area supervisors would oversee the campaign, he added. He said that the district administration had imposed section 144 and banned pillion riding in the district during the drive. Quick response teams had also been constituted to convince parents as 4600 polio refusal cases had been reported in the last campaign, he added.

Teachers seek exemption from polio duty
By our correspondent
LAKKI MARWAT: The district chapter of all primary teachers association held demonstration in Lakki city on Sunday against assigning teachers polio duty and false reporting of independent monitoring unit (IMU).A large number of primary schoolteachers walked on old Kutchehry road and reached Qazi Ishfaq Chowk on main lorry stand.The teachers’ leaders demanded the government and local administration to exempt teachers from performing polio duty. “The government should let the teachers to focus on imparting quality education to the students,” one of the teachers said.

PML-N not holding LB polls due to defeat fear: Wattoo
By our correspondent
PAKPATTAN: Pakistan People’s Party Punjab president Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo has said that the government has failed to maintain the law and order in the country. Addressing the PPP workers at Chak 22/SP, he said that electricity and gas loadshedding had made the people’s life miserable. He said that the PML-N government was not holding the local bodies elections in the province due to fear of defeat. He said that the PML-N popularity was decreasing day-by-day. PPP Punjab general secretary Tanveer Ashraf Kaira, PPP tehsil president Rao Farman Ali and others also spoke on the occasion. Earlier, PPP Punjab president Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo and general secretary Tanveer Ashraf Kaira were given a warm welcome on their arrival in the district.

Four killed, 10 injured in van-bus collision in Chakwal
By our correspondent
CHAKWAL: Four people were killed and 10 others injured in an accident near Mial village on Talagang-Mianwali Road on Sunday. A bus (GLT/5879) was going to Rawalpindi from Karachi when it skidded on a slippery road and collided with a van (AKB/885). As a result, van passengers Gul Zaman, Abdul Ghani, Kitab Khan and Ghulam Hassan were killed on the spot while 10 others were injured. The injured people were shifted to the Talagang Tehsil Headquarters Hospital. Police have registered a case and started investigation.

Woman dies as roof collapses due to heavy rain in TT Singh
By our correspondent
TOBA TEK SINGH: A woman died when a roof of her house caved in due to heavy rain at Chak 150/GB near Rajana on Sunday. Ruqayya Bibi was alone in her house when suddenly a roof of her house caved in due to heavy rain. As a result, she died instantly. Meanwhile, a roof of a house also caved in due to rain at Chak 754/GB near Pirmahal. As a result, Muhammad Shafi and Jalil Ahmad were critically injured. Both were shifted to the THQ Hospital Pirmahal.

Call to shun horse-trading
By our correspondent
PESHAWAR: A senior leader of Awami National Party (ANP) and former provincial minister Arbab Ayub Jan has said that all political parties should join hands against the practice of vote-selling and proper amendments should be made in the Constitution in this regard. In a press statement on Sunday, the ANP leader said that horse-trading and vote-selling was a stigma and those parliamentarians and senators should be disqualified for life-term who were found involved in vote-buying or selling either in Senate or general elections. He said the senators who made it to the Upper House of Parliament through money could not respect the spirit of democracy and parliament and prefer earning money instead of serving the people and country. He said that political parties should also discourage those who buy or sell votes in the Senate elections or any other democratic process.

Bid to kidnap three children foiled
By our correspondent
CHAKDARA: The police arrested three kidnappers, including two women, and recovered three children in Adenzai area, official sources said on Sunday. The sources said that two women identified as Musarat Bibi and Maqbola bundled three kids identified as Abdul Aziz, Ishaq and Suhail into a taxi car in Shah Alam Baba in Adenzai. Locals of the area after hearing cries of the children informed the police. The police gave the kidnappers a chase, intercepted the car at Jango Checkpost, and recovered the children. The police arrested all the three kidnappers, including the taxi driver Inamullah.

Carjacker arrested in Kohat
By our correspondent
KOHAT: The police arrested an alleged carjacker and recovered a motorbike from his possession here on Sunday, official sources said. They said that the police on the complaint of a resident of Kohat City started checking vehicles and signalled a motorcycle to stop in Pir Abudullah Shah locality. After checking the documents, the police arrested the carjacker identified as Muhammad Wajid and recovered lifted bike (RIM-6840) from him. Wajid was wanted by the police in the crimes of heinous nature, including robberies and carjacking. The police registered the case and started an investigation.

Explosives defused in Kurram
By our correspondent
SADDA: The security forces foiled a terrorism bid by defusing explosives in Kurram Agency, official sources said on Sunday. They said that militants had placed explosives in the fields near the river in Khar Killay in lower parts of Kurram Agency. Villagers spotted the explosives and informed the security forces. The security forces and bomb disposal unit (BDU) officials reached the spot and defused the explosives.