GUJRANWALA, Jan 9: A meeting of the chairmen of the Punjab educational boards decided on Friday to allow the students of seminaries to take the examinations for the secondary school certificate and intermediate annual 2009 with Urdu, English and Pakistan studies to obtain the certificates. Gujranwala Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Board Chairman Muhammad Akram Chaudhry said these students had to pass ‘Shahdatul Saanviatul Aama’ for matriculation and ‘Shahadatul Saaniatul Khasa’ for intermediate examination. He said that students would have to pass these subjects in one go in 2009.

GAZA RALLY: Jamaat-i-Islami and Shabab-i-Milli activists and civil society representatives took out a procession on Friday to protest the ruthless killings of Palestinians by the Israelis in Gaza offensive and demanded that the world force the Israel to end the attack.

Protesters gathered outside Sheranwala Bagh and chanted slogans against Israel and the US administrations. Speakers criticised the rulers of the Muslim countries for their inaction over the brutal killing of children, women and people in Gaza.

FIRE: A factory and a house caught fire at Sharifpura and Sabzi Mandi areas leaving a huge quantity of strawboards and valuables burnt. The strawboard factory was closed due to the Muharram holidays and it caught the fire due to short-circuiting. Factory owner Ehtasham said the estimate of the loss was being assessed. In the house fire which also erupted due to short-circuiting, valuables worth Rs500,000 were burnt at the house of Bashir Ahmad. Rescue-1122 extinguished the fire after two hours.

ELECTROCUTED: A youth was electrocuted while three others were injured during an Ashura procession when an Alam touched a transmission power supply line in Wazirabad on Thursday. Iqbal Butt, of Taxila, was at a truck carrying an Alam along with his companions. When the Alam touched live wires, he got electric shocks and died. His companions Jaber, Abid and Baber were injured and were rushed to hospital in a critical condition. The body of the deceased was taken to Taxila. The Punjab government announced a Rs200,000 compensation for the heirs to the deceased.

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