SIALKOT, Oct 12: The death toll of the blast at the Zainabia mosque rose to 35 on Tuesday, as another four of the injured breathed their last at different hospitals. The deceased included Sajid Naqvi, a serving major, and Asad Karblai.
Meanwhile, Jamia Zainabia mosque prayer leader Agha Faiz Ali Karpalvi said the condition of several other injured was also stated to be critical at the Combined Military Hospital, the District Headquarters Hospital and other private treatment centres.
He said financial compensation announced by the government had yet to be given to the heirs of the victims, as the functionaries concerned were still busy preparing the lists and verifying the names of the deceased and the injured.
Saying that the poor people had been facing difficulties in getting their treatment as they were unable to bear the hospitalization expenses, he demanded that the government released the amount at the earliest.
Many of those injured had paid for their treatment despite the government's claims of compensating them, he added. He also said the police and intelligence agencies had failed to find any clue to the perpetrators of the ghastly incident even after almost two weeks.
Meanwhile, Punjab DIG (Investigation) Chaudhry Abdul Hamid visited the targeted mosque and gathered information from various sources. He said investigation was under way.
No DPO: There has been no district police officer in Sialkot for the last 13 days, as no new official has been appointed by the Punjab government after the transfer of Nisar Ahmad Saroya.
The provincial government had transferred Mr Saroya and suspended the DSP (city) and the Rangpura police station SHO from service after the blast tragedy. However, SP (Investigation) Shariq Jamal Khan has been serving as an acting DPO.
The posts of the DSP (investigation) and the DSP (headquarters) have also been lying vacant for long. Additional SP Mirza Zafar Alam is also going to retire within few days.
CHALLAN: The district traffic police had challenged 7,249 vehicles and recovered Rs1.6 million in the form of fines from violators during the last month, DSP (Traffic) Javed Nisar Basra told newsmen on Tuesday.
He said the police had challenged 57 vehicles for over speeding, 621 for overloading (of passengers) and 121 for overloading (of luggage), 236 for jumping signals, and 450 for driving on wrong lanes.
Besides, 16 vehicles were challenged for having tinted glass or screens, 242 for violation of line and zebra crossing, 42 for driving in prohibited areas, 1,572 for creating hurdles in traffic flow, 384 for reckless driving, 2,405 for having no driving licences and 188 for using pressure horns.
For driving smoke-emitting vehicles 461 violators were challened, under-age driving (213), no registration numbers (301), misfit (42), lacking route permits (590), wrong parking (610) and other rules' violations (1,510).
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