MANSEHRA: Scores of sacked school teachers both men and women have warned they will set fire to themselves en masse if the government doesn`t restore them in three days in line with the Supreme Court`s orders.

The warning was issued during a rally taken out here on Wednesday.

Protester Fauzia Bibi told reporters outside the press club that the provincial government had sacked more than 300 male and female teachers `purely on political grounds` but the Supreme Court ordered their restoration five months ago.

She complained that the government hadn`t followed the court`s orders prompting the sacked teachers to agitate.

The protester warned if the teachers weren`t reinstated within three days, they all would commit selfimmolation together.

She said the teachers` terminations were reversed by the Peshawar High Court, while the Supreme Court upheld it in May this year after the education department challenged it.

`Despite the court`sorders, we have been denied postings to our and our f amilies` misery,` she said.

Another protester, Zainab Bibi, accused the education secretary and relevant director, and district education of ficer of creating hurdles to the teachers` reinstatement.

`If we are not restored to our old positions within three days, we will set ourselves on fire here and if that happens, only the provincial government will be to blame,` she said.

GUTTED: A two-storey poultry farm was gutted in Chilindri area of Oghi here on Tuesday night killing over 4,000 chickens.

The employees and local residents tried to put out the fire throwing water and soil on it but it destroyed upper story of the building.

Farm owner Dilbar Khan said the fire was caused by an oven lit to maintain normal temperature in the farm for chickens to survive.

Nazim of the Chilindri village council Pervez Khan visited the farm and he would assess the damage before submitting the report to the district administration for payment.

PRAYER FOR RAIN: The people on Wednesday offered the Namaz-i-Istasqa for rainfall in Zafar Park of Mansehra city.

The entire Hazara division has been in the grip of a dry spell for a long time.

Maulana Abdul Hafiz led the prayer.