SIALKOT, April 25: Four workers were burnt alive when a fire broke out in a gloves manufacturing factory on the Sialkot-Pasrur Road here late Saturday night.

Mohammad Abbas, Aamir Shafiq, Riaz and Naveed were on overtime duty when a fire broke out in the factory and engulfed the entire building. The four workers burnt alive, and raw material and leather goods worth millions of rupees reduced to ashes.

It took fire fighters three hours to extinguish the fire. Saddar police have sealed the factory and registered a case against factory owner Khwaja Maqsood and his three sons, Taskeen, Yaseen and Hafiz.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi has directed Industries Minister Ajmal Cheema and Labour Minister Syed Akhtar Husain Rizvi to conduct an inquiry into the incident.

ARD: The ARD will extend full moral and political support to the PML-N over the issue of returning to Pakistan the exiled PML-N president, Mian Shahbaz Sharif. This was claimed by PML-N central information secretary Siddiqul Farooq while talking to newsmen at the PML-N House here on Sunday.

He said the ARD would warmly welcome Mian Shahbaz Sharif who's date of arrival in Pakistan would be announced in the PML-N's central working committee meeting in Islamabad on April 28. He said the PML-N would publish a white paper about the alleged corruption of the present rulers before the arrival of Mian Shahbaz Sharif.

PML-N's central joint secretary and MNA Khawaja Muhammad Asif, MPA Imran Ashraf, PML-N Sialkot district president Idrees Ahmad Bajwa, former MNA Syed Iftikharul Hassan Shah and former MPA Manshaullah Butt were also present on the occasion.

MINISTER: Punjab Minister for Industries & Investment Muhammad Ajmal Cheema has said the government would take the business community into confidence before formulating fiscal policies.

Talking to the newsmen here, Cheema said that the government would announce a special package of incentives in the next trade policy for boosting Sialkot's export-oriented cottage industries, besides enabling introducing new markets to local exporters.

Replying to a question, the minister said that government was working on a plan to impart training and awareness about the WTO to the Sialkot-based small and medium enterprises. He said that these measures would be helpful in reducing the costs of production of export items besides cutting rate of various duties on different raw materials.