05 March 2004 Friday 13 Muharram 1425 KARACHI: Revamping of KCR system to cost Rs5bn KARACHI, March 4: Work on the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) is expected to begin by June with the whole system to be revamped at a cost of Rs5 billion. ... KARACHI: Ibad seeks report on poaching KARACHI, March 4: Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad has ordered a report on poaching by an army general and certain senior civilian officers in Pai Forest, it is learnt. ... KARACHI: Govt given another chance to settle KBCA issue KARACHI, March 4: The Sindh High Court gave the authorities another opportunity on Thursday to settle the question of devolution or otherwise of the building rules enforcement in the city. ... KARACHI: Dialogue with terrorists ruled out KARACHI, March 4: Ulema representing all schools of thought, at a meeting with Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad at Governor House here on Thursday, vehemently condemned the Quetta tragedy. ... KARACHI: Committee on settlement fails to meet KARACHI, March 4: The high-level committee constituted to help resolve the lingering controversy involving the provincial and city governments over the control of KBCA could not convene its crucial meeting scheduled for Thursday ... KARACHI: Nazim calls for Islamic education KARACHI, March 4: City Nazim Naimatullah Khan has underlined the need for imparting Quranic teachings, besides medical science, information technology and other subjects. ... KARACHI: Education reform funds remain under-utilized KARACHI, March 4: Physical targets set for Education Sector Reforms (ESR) programme in Sindh are unlikely to be achieved in time due to slow pace of funds utilization. ... KARACHI: Social workers asked to help promote unity KARACHI, March 4: Sindh Chief Secretary Dr Mutawakkil Kazi has called upon the society, especially the social workers, to work for creation of an environment conducive for national unity and brotherhood in the light of religious teachings. ... KARACHI: HIV diagnosis facility in hospitals urged KARACHI, March 4: Viral load assessment facility and CD4 (Cell Count) Test, a prerequisite for timely diagnosis HIV, are not available in any of the public sector hospitals across Sindh. ... KARACHI: City govt's IT projects reviewed KARACHI, March 4: A high-level meeting, to review progress of various Information Technology projects of the city government, was held under the chairmanship of Syed Mustafa Kamal, Sindh IT minister. ... KARACHI: Convict's eyes grafted on young girl and man KARACHI, March 4: The eyes of Sheikh Amjad, who was hanged to death in a murder case on Thursday, were transplanted into a 19-year-old girl and a middle-aged man at the Spencer's Eye Hospital. ... KARACHI: Barrister Shakir's killer hanged to death KARACHI, March 4: The murderer of Barrister Shakir Latif was hanged early Thursday morning at the Central Prison minutes after the victim's family refused to pardon him. ... KARACHI: Constable kills wife and son, injures daughters KARACHI, March 4: A police constable allegedly shot dead his wife and step son and injured his daughters in Ferozabad on Thursday morning, later surrendering himself to police. ... KARACHI: Slow pace of work irks people KARACHI, March 4: Over 200 flats and houses, situated on Baghdadi's DD Chaudhry Road, near the Lea Market Telephone Exchange, have not only been facing acute water shortage since long, but are, off and on, supplied contaminated water. ... KARACHI: Three get 5-year term for collecting donations KARACHI, March 4: An anti-terrorism court sentenced on Thursday three activists of the banned Khuddamul Islam to a five-year term for collecting donations for "Jihad." ... KARACHI: District govts to get GST share directly KARACHI, March 4: The Sindh government on Thursday decided to release the 2.5 per cent share in GST (general sales tax) directly to each district government and town municipal administration of the province. ... PESHAWAR: Neurosurgeons moot today PESHAWAR, March 4: The Pakistan Society of Neurosurgeons is organising a two-day conference on neurotrauma from Friday. Dr Nasim Ashraf, Chairman of the National Commission for Human Development, will inaugurate the conference at 7pm at a hotel here. ... MULTAN: Polio taking its toll on country MULTAN, March 4: The WHO coordinator for anti-polio campaign, Pervez Masood, has said polio cases are found only in Pakistan, India and Nigeria. ... ISLAMABAD: Experts warn of rise in hepatitis cases ISLAMABAD, March 4: Hepatitis is spreading at a fast pace in Pakistan and over the past 10 years it has assumed an alarming proportion, participants of a seminar on health awareness were told here on Thursday. ... DERA GHAZI KHAN: Residents of Loralai hold demo against govt DERA GHAZI KHAN, March 4: Residents of Loralai held a protest demonstration against the government for its failure to track down the culprits and recovery of 12 people kidnapped last Friday from a Loralai-bound bus. ... LAHORE: Corruption in town planning to be probed - Committee formed LAHORE, March 4: The Data Ganj Bakhsh Town Council on Thursday expressed concern over massive encroachments in the town and constituted a seven-member committee to probe irregularities and corruption in the town planning wing. ... LAHORE: Police still clueless in murder case LAHORE, March 4: Police failed on Thursday to resolve the mystery of the death of seven members of two families who were found dead on Tuesday and Wednesday. ... LAHORE: 1,400 house, car loans lapse LAHORE, March 4: Out of the 1,600 out-of-turn house building loans and motorcycle and car advances sanctioned by the Punjab finance department for payment of Rs80 million to the provincial government employees ... LAHORE: Couple held on children smuggling charges LAHORE, March 4: The Federal Investigation Agency arrested on Thursday a man and a woman at the Lahore airport for allegedly smuggling two children to Dubai for camel race. ... LAHORE: Demo held against police LAHORE, March 4: Over 300 people held a demonstration on the Ravi Road on Thursday to protest Wednesday's death of a man allegedly by police torture. ... LAHORE: Three LHC judges take oath LAHORE, March 4: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Husain Chaudhry has said that steps have been taken to streamline courts' administration in the province. ... BAHAWALPUR: Several areas without power for two days BAHAWALPUR, March 4: Several localities remained without electricity for over six hours on the second consecutive day on Thursday. The electricity supply was disrupted due to some fault in the main transformer of the Bahawalpur grid station. ... LAHORE: Three held in BoP scam LAHORE, March 4: The National Accountability Bureau arrested on Thursday three officers of the Bank of Punjab and one of the directors of a private company on the charges of corruption and corrupt practices. ... MULTAN: Illegal gas storage plant to be sealed MULTAN, March 4: District Coordination Officer Muhammad Ijaz Chaudhry has ordered sealing of a carbon dioxide storage plant, which was allegedly allowed to work illegally by the Pak-Arab Fertilizers. ... PESHAWAR: WHO lacks strategy to check polio PESHAWAR, March 4: The World Health Organization (WHO) has failed to stem the tide of polio virus in the NWFP and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), owing to lack of proper strategy and coordination with the health department. ... PESHAWAR: Turkish woman gets life term PESHAWAR, March 4: A Turkish woman, Fatima Uskurat, was awarded life term by the special judge (control of narcotics substance) on Wednesday. Judge Abdur Rehman also fined her Rs300,000 in default of which she would undergo three years more imprisonment. ... PESHAWAR: UC Nazims threaten hunger strike PESHAWAR, March 4: The union councils' nazims of Lakki Marwat would set up a hunger strike camp along the Bannu-Dera Ismail Khan road to protest against the provincial government's move of not allocating funds for the polytechnic institute in the district. ... PESHAWAR: Hospital staff stop giving fee receipts PESHAWAR, March 4: Hospital staff has been causing financial loss to their respective institutions by not issuing receipts to the patients from whom they receive fee for different tests, sources revealed. ... HYDERABAD: Teachers to launch movement from 9th HYDERABAD, March 4: The Mehran Elementary and Secon-dary Teachers Association, Sindh, has decided to boycott SSC examinations to protest against the government apathy to resolve teachers' problems. ... HYDERABAD: Provincial adviser's order challenged HYDERABAD, March 4: The Sindh High Court, Hyderabad circuit bench, here on Thursday directed the Sindh additional advocate-general to seek comments from the health authorities on cancelling appointments of eight petitioners. ... THATTA: Flour price rises in Sujawal THATTA, March 4: Residents are suffering as the flour price has risen by Rs3 in Sujawal sub-division. None of the officials concerned has taken any notice of the matter despite the price of flour rose from Rs12 to Rs13. ... HYDERABAD: German scholar visits varsity HYDERABAD, March 4: Eminent German scholar and professor of the Humboldt University, Berlin, Dr Bettina Robotka, visited the Sindh University in Jamshoro on Thursday. ... DERA GHAZI KHAN: Patwaris' seniority list 'controversial' DERA GHAZI KHAN, March 4: The district revenue authorities are reportedly violating the seniority list while promoting the field staff or patwaris. The controversial seniority list comprises 267 patwaris. ... RAWALPINDI: Stability in goods' prices stressed RAWALPINDI, March 4: The acting district Nazim, Raja Javed Ikhlas, on Thursday called for stability in the prices of essential commodities. Speaking at a meeting on the consumption of poultry products ... RAWALPINDI: Three killed in separate incidents RAWALPINDI, March 4: Three persons including a woman were killed in separate incidents in Rawalpindi and Islamabad on Thursday, police said. In the first incident, Zona Bibi and her 10-year-old granddaughter were crossing a road when a speeding car (MI-5670) hit them. ... SUKKUR: Over 50 flour mills to be closed on 6th SUKKUR, March 4: More than 50 flour mills of upper Sindh, including Sukkur, Khairpur, Naushahro Feroze, Nawabshah and Ghotki districts, will be closed on March 6. ... MANSHERA: Strike continues in Mansehra - Transporters demand MANSEHRA, March 4: Tense calm prevailed here on Thursday following Wednesday's firing incident in which a police sub- inspector was shot dead and three others were injured ... MIRPURKHAS: Warning against sowing of banned crop MIRPURKHAS, March 4: The executive district officer (agriculture) has cautioned farmers not to sow the officially-banned BT cotton that is already being sown in some parts of Mirpurkhas and Sanghar districts. ... GUJRANWALA: 51 held for selling flour at high rates GUJRANWALA, March 4: Some 51 shopkeepers were arrested and many others fined for selling flour at high rates here on Thursday. Some 40 shopkeepers were arrested in the city and 11 in Naushera Virkan tehsil. ...

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