January 18, 2008	Friday	Muharram 08, 1429

TOBA TEK SINGH, Jan 17: The Punjab government’s announcement about launching MA classes at the Government Municipal Degree College in six subjects some three years ago is yet to take effect owing to various reasons, including lack of teaching staff and infrastructure. The college has, however, started classes only in two disciplines from this academic year, Dawn learnt on Thursday.

The provincial government had announced starting Master’s classes in English, History, Economics, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry at this college.

Though an academic block to house MA classrooms has been constructed, the college has started MA classes only in English and History subjects and that too from the current academic year.

Principal Aslam Sajid told Dawn that MA block’s construction had been completed and equipped with furniture. He said only one lecturer was taking MA History classes while MA Economics and Mathematics classes could not be started because of non-availability of required teaching staff.

Similar was the case with Physics and Chemistry subjects where lack of academic staff, laboratories and other related peripheral was the main hurdle in launching the classes, he added.

He said Rs5 million were required for the construction of laboratories and provision of related materials to launch masters classes in science disciplines.

The principal, however, said the government had approved Rs16.3 million for the construction of college’s boundary wall and a multipurpose hall and its contract had been tendered to the National Logistic Cell which would start the construction work very soon.

While inviting the government’s urgent attention towards dearth of academic staff, the principal said over a dozen posts of teaching staff in various subjects were lying vacant.

Prof Sajid said the post of dispenser at college’s dispensary was lying vacant for the past 16 years while 13 posts of class-IV employees were also lying vacant.

CASE: The Chuttiana police arrested Awami Jamhoori Party district secretary-general Chaudhry Muhammad Zubair along with his brother and father on Wednesday night on charges of misbehaving with a woman district council member.

According to police, the accused allegedly assaulted Nasreen Akhtar when she was supervising the construction of drains in her Chak 305-GB.

Zubair has refuted the charges, and said they were politically motivated. He said PML-Q aspirant for NA-93 Kashif Ashfaq, who is nephew of Toba Tehsil Nazim Mian Javed Iqbal, and PP-90 candidate Saeed Ahmad Saeedi had got them booked for opposing them in their electioneering.

In a joint press statement, Mian Junaid Anwaar and Chaudhry Adsadur Rahman, the PML-N candidates for NA-93 and NA-94, and Col Ayub Gadhi (retired) and Mian Muhammad Rafiq, PML-N aspirants for PP-87 and PP-90, condemned the registration of what they called “false” case against Zubair and his family members.

They said they would lodge a complaint with the returning officer and the Election Commission of Pakistan. They also met DPO Raja Munawwar Husain and asked him to quash the case.

STRIKE: Members of the District Bar Association (DBA) observed a complete strike on Thursday on the call of the Pakistan Bar Council to press the government for restoring the pre-Nov 3 judiciary.

A DBA general body meeting was held with president Mian Muhammad Shoaib in the chair where senior lawyers and bar’s office-bearers said President Musharraf had destroyed key institutions of the country so he should resign at the earliest.

They condemned the house arrest of deposed judges of superior courts, who did not succumb to the allegiance of Nov 3’s Provisional Constitution Order, and urged all political parties to boycott the Feb 18 general election. The strike was also observed in Gojra and Kamalia tehsils.

MURDER: A farmer was shot dead in Chak 285-GB in Rajana police precincts on Thursday.

The police said Ahmad Khan was asleep when unidentified assailants entered his house, shot at him and fled.

His family, however, said Ahmad had no enmity with anyone.