LOWER DIR: The Pakistanis working in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries on Monday held a dem onstration outside Timergara Press Club against shortage of AstraZeneca vaccine in government hospitals.

Scores of overseas Pakistanis gathered outside the press club and chanted slogans against the government for not paying heed to their issue.

Speaking on the occasion, Ahmad Sadiq, Maulana Mohammad Nabi Shah and others complained that visas of the majority of their colleagues were expiring while the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia did not allow overseas without vaccination of AstraZeneca.

They said that the majority of the government hospitals were short of that vaccine due to which they faced difficulties. They demanded of Prime Minister Imran Khan, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad to take notice of the matter and raise it with the Saudi authorities so that they could easily travel abroad for their jobs.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-i-Islami district emir Izazul Mulk Afkari and deputy general secretary Engineer Hafiz Yaqubur Rehman demanded of the government to take notice of the issue.

Talking to local journalists in Timergara, they said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had recommended AstraZeneca vaccine for people visiting that country but it was currently not available in government hospitals.

UPLIFT SCHEME: Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Prisons Shafiullah Khan on Monday said that government approved a gravity scheme to supply water to Timergara city.

Talking to a group of local journalists at his residence, the lawmaker said that government was committed to completing uplift projects to facilitate people.

He said that millions of rupees would be spent on the Timergara gravity scheme for supply of clean drinking water.

He said that federal government had also approved Chakdara-Timergara motorway and work on it would start soon. He said that he was hopeful that government would allocate funds for Gopalum irrigation scheme as it was a longstanding demand of the people of Timergara, Talash and Adenzai.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2021