SAHIWAL: Around 727 amateur singers and painters from the division registered themselves under the Chief Minister`s Talent Hunt Programme.

These candidates were aged between 18 and 35 years, and will compete in singing and painting competitions on district, divisional and provincial levels.

Among the registered candidates, 246 were girls. A total of 410, 191 and 126 candidates registered from Sahiwal, Okara and Pakpattan, respectively. Auditions for the competitions would be conducted on March 21, 25 and 27 in Pakpattan, Okara and Sahiwal, respectively.

DEATH SENTENCE: Additional District and Sessions Judge Chaudhry Amir Khan awarded death sentence and a fine of Rs1.5 million to Muhammad Aslam for murdering a machine operator in 2014.

Aslam was an employee of the Rescue 1122. The court acquitted four other Rescue employees -Muhammad Younas, Muhammad Asif, Abdul Sattar and Farooq -giving them the benefit of the doubt.

The convict had killed machine operator Muhammad Amjad at the shrine of Baba Noordin in village 79/5-L over a family dispute on Oct 26, 2014. Amjad`s sister Naeema Naureen and her son had been injured in the attack.

A murder case had been registered at the Yousafwala police station.