BAHAWALPUR: A division bench (Bahawalpur bench) of the Lahore High Court has dismissed an intra-court appeal against the renaming of Fowara Chowk as Khatm-i-Nubawat Chowk.

The appeal (No 4/2014) was filed by Mian Faizul Hassan, a retired district and sessions judge, against the decision of single bench headed by Justice Sardar Muhammad Shamim Khan of the LHC (Bahawalpur bench) on Dec 31, 2013.

Justice Khan had given the verdict on the writ petition (No 7606/2013) of one Muhammad Ashfaq.

The petitioner had asked the LHC to rename the Fowara Chowk as Khatm-iNubawat Chowk to commemorate a 1935 verdict where (now defunct) State of Bahawalpur`s chief judge, late MuhammadAkbar Khan, had in a dissolution of a marriage case (Mst Ghulam Aisha Vs Abdul Razaq) had accepted the plea of Mst Ghulam Aisha, who contended that because her husband Abdul Razag had converted to Ahmedi faith, she wanted divorce.

Later, Mian Faizul Hassan challanged the decision to rename Fowara Chowk through an intra-court appeal (ICA) on Jan 18, 2014. He prayed to the court to set aside the order and as an alternative any other local monument be renamed as Khatm-iNubawat.

The LHC division bench comprising Justice Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal and Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti dismissed the plea against renaming of the intersection and also directed the local government and community development secretary to implement the court orders.

RALLIES: The subordinate staff of allthe government departments staged rallies, demanding increase in their salaries and allowances through the upcoming provincial budget.

The employees, who observed a partial strike, left their respective offices and staged rallies that culminated at Farid Gate, where they were addressed by their leaders.

GRENADE RECOVERED: A live grenade was recovered from a manhole in the Hashmi Garden administered by the Bahawalpur Cantonment Board.

According to sources, a worker, Iqbal Yousuf spotted the grenade when a manhole was being cleaned in the garden and informed the local Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) about it.

The BDS personnel defused the grenade.

CONFERENCE: The Government Sadiq College Women University on Thursdayorganised a three-day `Science Conference`.

The key-note lecture was delivered by director, International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences,University of Karachi, Prof Dr Iqbal Chaudhry, while Women University Vice-chancellor Prof Dr Talat Afza and others also spoke.

In his key-note address, Dr Iqbal observed that the education sector was the only real asset of any country, so special attention should be paid to it, along with character-building of youth.

MARKED: The Rescue Service 1122 observed International Firefighters Day here on Thursday.

In this connection, the employees of Rescue 1122 staged a rally led by District Emergency Officer Dr Asif Rahim Channar, who also delivered lectures at different educational institutions on safety measures.