Political Killings Rock Pakistan's Karachi

Karachi port is the main gateway for Western military supplies bound for Afghanistan and serious insecurity could disrupt shipments and pile pressure on the government.

While the violence has been confined to targeted tit-for-tat shootings, there are fears street clashes could erupt in the country's commercial hub, which is home to its main port and financial markets.

The country's main stock exchange has ignored the violence but analysts say any escalation is likely to hurt the fragile market.

The violence in the city of 16 million people is between Karachi's dominant political force, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), and a breakaway faction known as the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, or Haqiqi group, as they vie for influence.

Karachi police chief Waseem Ahmed told Reuters that 26 people had been killed in targeted attacks this month up to Sunday, with most of the dead members of the breakaway faction. Other police officials said five people were killed on Monday.

"Karachi is totally anarchic at the moment as there is a serious command and control problem in the political factions," said Mutahir Ahmed, a professor of international relations at the University of Karachi.

Stock analysts say investors are getting used to daily violence in the northwest, although fighting in the Swat valley northwest of Islamabad has unnerved the market over recent weeks.

But violence in Karachi has a more direct impact.

"If the trouble escalates, that could potentially be the last nail in the coffin for our market," said Sajid Bhanji, a dealer at brokers Arif Habib Ltd.

The index, which has gained about 18 percent this year after losing 58.3 percent in 2008, was slightly up on Monday morning.
Read more...

Six suicide bombers held in Karachi

KARACHI: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Sindh, with the collaboration of intelligence agencies, has foiled a terrorist plot and arrested seven terrorists, including six suicide bombers belonging to the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), here on Sunday.

The police have recovered three suicide jackets, explosive material, Kalashnikovs, TT pistols, gas masks, heroin, remote control devices, batteries, ball-bearings, electric wires and hundreds of rounds. SSP Muhammad Fayyaz Khan said the CID had received information about the presence of some terrorists in Karachi who were hiding in a house situated in Defence View.The CID, along with personnel of intelligence agencies, conducted a raid late on Saturday night at the house and arrested Mohammed Aziz alias Salman Amir, Mohammed Shahzad alias Pehlwan alias Muna alias Ustad, Ghulam Mohammed alias Umar, Shahbaz alias Mian, Khalid Ahmed Toori (brother of Qasim Toori), Alam Zaib alias Huzefa and Shakeel Ahmed alias Hunzeela.

During a search operation, three suicide jackets, 15 kilogramme of explosives material, four Kalashnikovs, four TT pistols, two gasmasks, two kilogramme of heroin, four electronic remote controls use in bomb blasts, four batteries used in suicide jackets, more than five kilogramme of ball-bearings, electric water of different types and over 200 rounds were recovered. The accused were taken to the investigation unit of the CID.

During the investigation, the accused disclosed that their accomplices were present in Waziristan and Chaman. They were sent to Karachi for fund generation and terrorist acts on government and military installations and officers.

Recently, a huge consignment of arms and explosives, transported by their groups to Karachi for terrorist acts, was recovered by the police in a raid. The suspects disclosed that they had been trying to export heroin to South Africa.

It was further disclosed that they had agents in Malaysia, Singapore, China, United Arab Emirates, Europe and the US, and they use to export heroin to these countries in the form of capsules and through other methods.

The terrorists informed the investigators that a part of the money they collect through the sale of heroin in Karachi was being sent to Taliban Commander Maulvi Abdul Samad in Quetta, Gul Badin in Chaman while the remaining amount was given to the families of their arrested activists.

It was disclosed that they were trained at a camp in South Waziristan and Afghanistan. Khalil Ahmed Toori is the brother of Qasim Toori (Amir of Jundullah) while accused Shahzad alias Muna alias Pehlwan is an expert in making suicide jackets and bombs. He was also involved in attempts on former president Pervez Musharraf and former prime minister Shaukat Aziz.
Read more...

Seven students injured in Sindh Univarsity clash

Hyderabad: In a clash between two student groups at the Sindh University campus in Jamshoro, at least seven students received injuries and were hospitalised in Jamshoro branch of the LUMHS on Tuesday.

According to reports, war of words was going on between the two student groups belonging to two different parties for the last few days which triggered violence on Tuesday and both the groups restored to heavy aerial firing in the arts faculty.

Sticks and iron rods were freely used in the ensuing clash as a result of which Abdur Rehman Rajar, Shoaib Pathan, Abdul Khaliq Chandio, Mohammad Ali Shah, Ayaz Ahmed, Shahzad Ali and another student were injured.
Jamshoro police registered a case on the complaint of Abdur Rehman Rajar against ten students. The nominated accused included Majeed Khoso, Ali Shaikh, Habib Soomro and Noor Burdi. The situation at the campus is tense.

Meanwhile, an outsider identified as Irshad Arain was caught by the students at Lal Shahbaz boys hostel and recovered a pistol from his possession. He was handed over to the law enforcement agencies. No case was registered against him so far.

MUET: The activists of Jeay Sindeh Students Federation (A) boycotted classes in the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology in protest against the removal of a photograph of their slain colleague, Asadullah Abbasi, from the electronic department of the university.

Reports said that after the recent murder of Asad Abbasi, his photographs were displayed in all the departments. However, on Tuesday morning someone removed his photograph from the electronic department and destroyed it which led to boycott of classes by the students of some departments.

The JSSF-A activists staged a sit-in outside the administration block. They raised slogans demanding the arrest of the miscreants and the killers of Asadullah Abbasi.

The students welfare officer, Ghazi Pariyar met with the protesting students and assured that efforts would be made to identify those miscreants who had removed the photograph of late Asad Abbasi.

Our Khairpur correspondent adds: Two students of Shah Abdul Latif University were injured in a clash between two groups of students in a point bus of the university here on Tuesday.

Reports said that when a point bus from Pano Aqil reached near Therhi stop in the jurisdiction of Babarloi police station, some students tried to embark the point-bus.

A clash took place between two groups of students as a result of which two students namely Asadullah Kalwar and Sikandar Soomro were injured.

The university administration was informed about the incident and the point-bus was taken to the university.

The injured students were provided first-aid at university dispensary and were sent back to homes. No case was registered till filing of this report. Dawn


Read more...

Int'l Literacy Day on Sep 08

Islamabad: People across the country will celebrate International Literacy Day on September 08 with special focus on literacy needs.This year, literacy day activities will put spot light on the empowering role of literacy and its importance for participation, citizenship and social development.Public and private departments will mark the day with seminars, workshops and conferences to highlight the importance of literacy.

National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) in collaboration with Ministry of Education and UNESCO will hold a grand seminar on the day, an official of NCHD said.

This day carries a greater significance for the society and calls attention to initiate the global efforts for promotion of literacy and education.NCHD in coordination with other organizations arranges literacy seminar every year to mark the day, he said.

According to an estimate, 860 million of the world's adults do not know how to read or write (nearly two-thirds of whom are women) and that more than 100 million children lack access to education.

Literacy is a cause for celebration since there are now close to four billion literate people in the world. However, literacy for all - children, youth and adults - is still an unaccomplished goal and an ever moving target.

September 08 was proclaimed International Literacy Day by UNESCO on November 17, 1965. It was first celebrated in 1966. Its aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. App
Read more...

0.15m get admission in polytechnic institutes

Lahore: About 0.15 million students, the highest after Intermediate groups in general education, opted for admission in the Polytechnic Institutes and Colleges of Technology in the Punjab province this year.

The students with less merit who do not get admission in the colleges get admission in the polytechnic institutes where the merit ranged from 500 marks to 600.

The most popular is the three-year Diploma of Associate Engineer (DAE) in Mechanical, Electrical and Civil Engineering.

The parents from less privileged class prefer to send their children for these courses in Polytechnics.

The C.Com and D.Com in Polytechnic Institutes equal to Intermediate are also popular among the students who wanted to do their B.Com-IT and M.Com.

All these examinations are conducted by the Punjab Board of Technical Education (PBTE).

The admissions in Polytechnic Institutes ended on August 31st where classes too will start from September 1 (today).

According to an estimate some one lakh children were admitted in 200 Polytechnic Institutes and 40 Colleges of Technology in the Province and Azad Kashmir, majority of them enrolled in DAE. The merit this year was high and the administration had to admit majority students in second shift.

As many as 50,000 students were admitted in C.Com and D.Com equivalent to Intermediate in commerce group at the Polytechnic Institutes and some 25,000 in B.Tech. As many as 10,000 students were admitted in other technical and vocational courses of six months to one year duration.

This is in addition to the students admitted in TEVTA institutions whose examination is conducted by TEVTA itself.

Some of the private institutions offering C.Com and D.Com have obtained affiliation from the Multan Board and universities other than the Punjab University for their graduate programmes. A well number of students took admission in computer courses ACCA, CAT, CFA, CIMA etc

The admission trend reflect the desire of Pakistani youth to acquire higher education despite the inflated fee and hard hitting economic conditions. Meanwhile, a fair number of Matriculates desire to search jobs in govt and non-govt organisations, Army, Air force and police establishment according to their eligibility. The nation
Read more...

Teachers appeal to CJP to take up case in SC

Islamabad: The daily-wage teachers have appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take up the case of regularisation of their services in the Supreme Court as the case was witnessing enormous delay due to the scarcity of judges in the Lahore High Court's Rawalpindi Bench.

The case was being heard, earlier, in Islamabad High Court (IHC) but after its abolition by the Supreme Court in its July 31 verdict, it was transferred to the LHC's Rawalpindi bench. The contempt of court case on non-implementation of court orders in 2008 in writ petition 2019/2006 was in its last stages and the teachers were expecting the decision in their favour but the transfer of the case left its fate hanging in the balance.The teachers lamented that as the case has been left in abeyance they have no platform where their demands could be heard thus the officials of the ministry has been given free hand to exploit the teachers.

On the media reports that the summary to regularise the teachers working on daily wages has been forwarded to the prime minister, the teacher remarked, "Such claims by the ministry officials use to appear in the media on and off but practically things have not been changed and we have not been informed officially".

They also appealed to ensure the implementation of Islamabad High Court orders in which the court on April 2, 2008 had directed the ministry "to consider the qualified teachers for regularization irrespective of their categorization, ad hoc, on daily wages or on contract basis taking into consideration their pervious length of services against regular posts at earliest opportunity available".

Fearing that they would be victimised during the regularisation process by the directorate officials, they have demanded that the regularisation should be made on the basis of their efficiency report and selection should be based on the performance results of teachers.

Its pertinent to mention here that Federal Minister for Education Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani had directed the officials of the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) either to pay the salaries to the teachers or not to get funds from the students during two-month long summer vacation. The vacation has been ended but they were not given salaries.

More than 500 teachers of 19 model colleges in the Federal Capital work on daily wages. Despite that they have been working for years and many of them have spent 10 to 17 years of their lives in these institutions yet their services have not been regularised by the Ministry of Education.

The Islamabad High Court has also issued a stay order, stopping the Ministry of Education and Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) from any fresh recruitment in Islamabad Model Colleges. The nation
Read more...

Classes in public colleges to commence after Eid-ul-Fitr

Karachi: The process of admissions to the first year classes in government sector colleges in Karachi is proceeding in a smooth manner, and academic activities would commence after Eid-ul-Fitr.

This was stated by the Director General Colleges Prof. Dr Rafiq Ahmed Siddiqui.

Siddiqui pointed out that the last date for submission of admission forms expired on August 29, after it was extended twice. He also informed that the total forms that have been received are more than 81,000, out of a total of 93,000 sold at 50 designated branches of Bank Al-Habib in the metropolis.He said that faculty-wise lists of the successful candidates would be announced from September 3.

The list of the Computers and Home Economics faculties would be notified first and then of the remaining faculties after a gap of two to three days.

Siddiqui said that there are sufficient numbers of seats in the 124 government sector colleges in the metropolis and that no eligible candidate would be denied admission. He was of the view that there has been no delay in the process of admission despite of late issuance of marks sheets to many of the candidates by the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK).

Prof. Siddiqui said that those whose names would appear in the list of successful candidates would have to seek admission within a seven days' period.

The process of teaching of the new entrants is expected to commence after Eid-ul-Fitr, he said. The news
Read more...

Seven new colleges to be opened in Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi: Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif has allocated Rs900 million to the city district government for opening seven educational institutions in Rawalpindi and its surrounding areas.

Director of Education (Colleges), Rawalpindi Division, Dr. Muhammad Ashraf said that the Punjab chief minister has already released the amount allocated to the Punjab Education Department for opening seven educational institutions in Rawalpindi city and its adjacent areas.

The previous government had opened number of schools and colleges for girls in Rawalpindi, however, no attention paid on boys' institutions, which were otherwise necessary, stated Dr. Ashraf.

However, under the directions of the chief minister, both opposition leader in National Assembly Ch. Nisar Ali Khan and MNA Hanif Abbasi are working on boys colleges. Out of the total seven new colleges, four would be for boys and three for girls. All the seven institutions would be degree colleges, he said.

The new degree colleges for boys will be opened in Rehmatabad, Dhoke Syedan, Chakri, Chak Beli Khan, Murree etc. The girls' degree colleges have been completed in Rehmatabad, Dhoke Syedan and Chak Beli Khan. While construction work on boys colleges in these areas has been initiated and will be completed in 12 to 18 months, he said.

The education director admitted that due to meagre number of boys' colleges in Rawalpindi, the students passing Matric could not get admission and approach the private colleges. At present only four boys colleges are functioning in Rawalpindi including Asghar Mall Post Graduate College, Satellite Town Degree College, Hashmat Ali Degree College and Gordon College.

The last boys' college opened in Rawalpindi some 40 years ago was Satellite Town Degree College. After that no concerned authority paid attention to promote boys education at higher level, said Dr. Ashraf.

Besides opening of new boys and girls' colleges, the Punjab government has allocated special grants to Satellite Town Women College, Viqar un Nisa College, Girls College in Muslim Town.

Apart from this a new building of Hashmat Ali Degree College is being constructed to accommodate more and more students. With the completion of these projects, the admission problem in colleges would be resolved by 80 per cent, he claimed.

When contacted, MNA Hanif Abbasi said that in his constituency, NA-56 Rehmatabad, one college each for boys and girls would be opened. The opening of boys' college in this locality was necessary. The news
Read more...

UET plagiarism case likely to be decided in a month

Lahore: The University of Engineering and Technology Lahore (UET) and Higher Education Commission (HEC) committees are likely to present their final reports on the plagiarism case against Professor Dr Suhail Aftab Qureshi of the Electrical Engineering Department. The UET spokesman said on Tuesday that UET's syndicate had formed a special committee to probe the matter.

The HEC is also investigating whether Teaching Staff Association President Professor Qureshi plagiarised three research papers and some MSc theses. Answering a question, the spokesman said he was unable to confirm any aspect of the case until the investigation committees present their findings. app

Read more...

National Internship Programme induction

30,000 fresh graduates to be inducted under NIP
Islamabad, Sep 02: To create skilled youth pool in the country, Ministry of Youth Affairs (MoYA) would induct 30,000 fresh graduates under its National Internship Programme (NIP).

The applications for induction of new interns will be invited through electronic and print media this week.

The unemployed graduates and post-graduates, below the age of 25 are eligible to apply for the internship. The candidates will be appointed after complete verification of their documents from Nadra.
The ministry is working on a comprehensive plan to train the skilled youth so that they can play their role in the development of the country, the official said.

The scheme is aimed at providing financial relief to the fresh graduates and engaging in acquiring additional knowledge and real life work experience.

The project of "Economic Empowerment of Youth" of the ministry would help harness potential of the young educated generation toward the right direction by training programmes and internships.

The ministry has already provided employment opportunities to around 25,000 young graduates through internship programme.

The sources said that the unemployed post-graduates and graduates who have completed 16 years of formal education in any discipline from HEC recognized universities and colleges including external candidates will be appointed for one year with stipend of Rs10,000 per month. After successful completion of one-year internship, interns will be awarded NIP experience certificate.

The ministry is also working to increase coordination among skill development institutes to run youth programmes effectively, he informed. The news
Read more...