Uplift plan for slums ordered.

ISLAMABAD -- President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday directed the authorities concerned to develop katchi abadis (shanty settlements) on modern lines to ensure they have all basic facilities like schools, colleges, hospitals, mosques, parks and open spaces for roads.

'The poor have been ignored in the past and it is time to raise their living standards,' the president said at a follow-up meeting at the Presidency on transformation of katchi abadis into developed areas in Karachi and other parts of the country.

The meeting was attended, among...