LAHORE: Telephone operators throughout the country, numbering about 9,000, went on lighting strike for an indefinite period from 6 p.m.

today [Nov 25] to press for the acceptance of their demands and in protest against the Government`s decision to declare their token strike as illegal. The Action Committee of the All Pakistan Telephone Operators Association alleged that 124 operators had been suspended from their service ... after the Government had declared the strike illegal under the Essential Services Ordinance. ... The Chairman of the Action Committee, Mr Mahmud Hussain, said that the strike would continue till all the suspended operators had been reinstated. ... He charged that some senior officials were keeping the Government in the dark... . Trunks, complaints, inquiry and other sections of the telephone department have been affected by the strike. Staf f Correspondent [Meanwhile, as reported by our staff correspondent in Quetta,] a fif ty megawatt power station being set up in Baluchistan with Chinese assistance will be located close to the coal-mining areas. This was stated by the Provincial Chief Minister Sardar Ataullah Mengal before leaving Quetta for Karachi.