FAISALABAD, Oct 30: A heavy police contingent raided the house of PPP MPA Jahanzeb Imtiaz Gill at Civil Lines "for the arrest of his brother" on Friday night.

According to reports, the police contingent dashed its entry into the house by scaling the boundary walls and entered the rooms without search warrants.

The team questioned Imtiaz Gill, father of the MPA, about his son Naveed Gill and also searched some rooms of the house and allegedly harassed the inmates. After thorough search of the house, the police team returned empty-handed.

When contacted, the MPA alleged that the raid had been conducted by the police just to stop him from raising voice in the media and on floor of the Punjab Assembly against misdeeds of the government. He said the police harassed his family in his absence, which was highly uncalled for.

PPP Punjab Secretary-General Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan, an MPA, also criticized the police for raiding the house of the opposition MPA. Such tactics, he averred, could not force the PPP leaders from exposing the true face of the rulers.

WTO: The All-Pakistan Federation of Trade Unions has demanded that President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz call a three-tier conference to resolve the complicated labour issues before the start of the WTO regime.

Talking to newsmen here on Saturday, APFTU Secretary-General Khursheed Ahmad said low wages of the employees, contractual system in the industrial units, ill-conceived policies of the government and a number of other issues were the main hurdles in the promotion of industrial and agricultural sectors.

He further said there was a dire need to convene a conference of government officials, employers and employees so that the issues could be resolved amicably. "Rapidly increasing unemployment and prices have hit hard the industrial workers and they are forced to commit suicides," he added.

He pointed out that due to poor command of the officials concerned, the prices of daily-use items had gone beyond the reach of the poor. But the authorities concerned were playing the role of silent spectators.

He demanded of the government to immediately announce Rs6,000 as minimum monthly salary for an industrial worker and restore the facility of selection grade and move-over for the government and semi-government employees.