LAHORE, Oct 11: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has appealed to the nation to observe Friday (today) as a prayer day for early recovery of Malala Yousafzai, a symbol of Pakistan’s bright future.

He said special prayers for Malala would be offered in government offices, educational institutions, offices of the PML-N, mosques and worship places of minorities throughout the province.

He said the nation’s image had been badly tarnished by the misguided elements that attacked innocent Malala.

GREEN TRACTOR: The chief minister has ordered to increase the quota of tractors by 15 per cent for south Punjab to be distributed among young farmers before Dec 31.

Chairing a meeting here on Thursday, the chief minister said under the increased quota scheme one out of 7,453 persons would get subsidized green tractor in south Punjab while this proportion in remaining districts would be one out of 11,177 persons.

Bhakkar and Jhang districts will also be considered in the three divisions of south Punjab -- Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan -- for the purpose of the scheme.

The provincial government is giving a subsidy of Rs200,000 per tractor as 10,000 tractors will be distributed during the current fiscal year at a cost of Rs2 billion under the Green Tractors Scheme.

A similar number of tractors will be distributed next year, while 700 laser land levelers are also being distributed among farmers.