KASUR: Punjabi poets and singers at Vesakhi Mela in Mustafabad (Lalyani) on Saturday urged people to mention Punjabi as their mother tonguein the census.

Vesalchi Mela is held every year on the platform of Punjabi Khoj Garh founded by poet Iqbal Qaiser who belongs to Lalyani.

Punjabi poetry, songs and traditional bhangra dance are the hallmarks of the event.Participating poets and singers included Shaukat Ali, Dr Sughran Sadaf, Khagan Haidar Abbasi, Nasir Beraj, Munir Maan, Qadeer Khan, Adeel Bargi, Seema Akhtar and Baba Najmi.

They said Kasur had rich heritage of Punjabi poetry and singing in the form of Baba Bulleh Shah, Noor Jehan and Iqbal Qaiser. They applauded the efforts of Qaiser for founding the Punjabi Khoj Garh and termed him an icon of Punjabi poetry in the present era who had won national and international fame forhis literary ventures.

The participants called for promotion of Punjabi language, saying it had a wide range of vocabulary and could accommodate all subject matter of the contemporary world. They demanded the government make Punjabi a compulsory subject at all levels in the educational institutions.

KILLER: A close relative turned out to be the killer of a 10-year-old girl who was killed at Qadirabad locality.

The girl, Fouzia, was found dead in the fields on April 21.

The Saddar police said Amanat, a close relative of Fouzia`s mother Parveen Bibi, turned out to be the killer.

Quoting Amanat`s statement, police said the suspect had relations with Parveen.

Later, Parveen allegedly developed relations with another man, Naveed, who started living in her house as a brother.

The stay of Naveed annoyed Amanat who wanted to take revenge.

To implicate Naveed in the case, Amanat strangled Fouzia and threw a shawl of Naveed at the crime scene.

Police said Amanat was already a convict in a murder case and was released from jail a few months back.

They arrested the suspect and got his physical remand from the court.