BAHAWALPUR: Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz called upon the youth to desist from destructive activities amid announcement to launch soon laptop, ebicycles (with Rs100,000) schemes and 50,000 scholarships for second and third year students next year.

She was speaking at a Honhaar scholarship pro-gramme function at the IUB auditorium and gave away scholarships to 3,100 students of public and private universities and institutions of Bahawalpur division here on Monday.

On the occasion, the CM also gave a cheque of Rs5 million to Bahawalpur`s Sohail Adnan, who recently won Pakistan`s British under-13 squash championship in the UK.

The chief minister criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf founding chairman and other party leaders, who, she said, were not the well-wishers of the country. She said the youth should not be misled bythose, who targeted army men and police.

She condemned the attackers of the personnel of lawenforcing agencies (LEAs), opening firing on them, saying that they could not be the `Pasban` of the country. She said youth should be true Pasbans of the country and should always keep the country`s flag high.

She said soon a fleet of 500 e-buses was being imported.

Talking about the Honhaar scholarships programme, the chief minister claimed that it was the biggest scheme of Rs172 million in the history of Pakistan for 30,000 students inthe province.

She said the scholarships were being given purely on merit irrespective of any political affiliation for which Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Khan had taken personal interest. She said there were about 60 per cent girls in the list of scholarship-holders.

She said scholarships were not given to them freely but they earned these scholarships with their own ability, merit and hard work. She congratulated all the stipend holders and their parents.

Earlier, the chief minister Maryam was welcomed at airport by divisional and districtadministrations officials, PML-N leaders and MPs including former governor Balighur Rehman and ex-senator Saood Majid Chaudhry.

TWO INJURED: Two persons were injured in a collision between a truck and a trailer carrying stones near Sukh Baes Canal on Hasilpur Road in Vehari district on Monday.

As per Rescue 1122 and police officials, after the collision, the truck laden with sugarcane fell into the canal.

The two men (names could not be known) injured in the incident were shifted to the Vehari District Headquarters Hospital.