Bomb defused

PESHAWAR, June 15: Police claimed to have foiled a sabotage attempt by defusing a bomb at Matani-Akakhel road here on Wednesday.

An official of Bomb Disposal Unit told Dawn that suspected militants had planted a 5kg bomb along the road but due to timely information the BDU personnel defused it.

The explosive device, he said, had been planted with pressure plate, adding that detonators, a 9 volt battery and other relevant items had been recovered from the spot.

A case against unidentified terrorists has been registered at Matani police station. —Bureau Report

Kidnap attempt foiled

MANSEHRA, June 15: People foiled an attempt of kidnapping a young girl in Nelishang area of Battagram on Wednesday night, police said.

According to witnesses, Mohammad Mehboob and his son Mohammad Tariq barged into the house of Sakina Bibi and attempted to kidnap her at gunpoint but she shouted for help and the local people rushed to save her.

The Battagram police on Wednesday arrested Mehboob and were continuing raids for the arrest of his son.

SHO Sanawar Shah told reporters that the girl was produced before the medical board for medical examination. He said that FIR had been registered and investigation was underway. —Correspondent

Relief for Pesco consumers

PESHAWAR, June 15: The Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) has been directed to extend maximum relief to ‘good’ consumers in terms of loadshedding.

The Board of Directors (BoD) of the public utility issued these directives in a meeting held here on Wednesday with chairman Hassam-ud-Din Bangash in the chair, said a press release.The board directed the Pesco chief to carry out minimum loadshedding in the areas where the consumers were regularly paying their bills, while major loadshedding should be carried out in the areas where misuse of electricity was on the rise or people were not paying their dues, the release said.

The board also directed the Pesco field officers to report to the BoD regarding reduction in their line losses and increase in recovery on monthly basis. —Bureau Report

45 ‘criminals’ held

KOHAT, June 15: The police arrested 45 criminals, including proclaimed offenders and arms dealers, in raids here on Wednesday.

The elite force conducted search operation in the outskirts of Kohat city and arrested five POs, Riaz Khan, Gul Ahmed, Niaz, Janan, Zarghun Shah.

The city police carried out another raid at arms shops in Bannu Bazaar and nabbed Shahid Iqbal, Jamshed, Iqbal Khan and Ijaz Khan and seized illegal weapons. The arms include two Kalashnikovs, two rifles, one shotgun, five pistols, 10 chargers and 300 cartridges.

All the accused were shifted to the respective police station where cases were registered against them. —Correspondent

Kisan Mela

LAKKI MARWAT, June 15: The district agriculture department organised a ‘Kisan Mela’ on its premises here on Wednesday. Assistant Coordination Officer Syed Khalid Israr Shah was the chief guest on the occasion.

The ACO distributed cash prizes among the farmers having obtained increased wheat yield and called upon them to grow sunflowers and other oil producing plants.

He said that the experts should extend cooperation towards the farmers and guide them to get good crops. The farmers’ representative said on the occasion that the government should provide funds for the construction of small dams in the district. “The dams will help the farmer community get rid of water shortage,” they maintained. —Correspondent

Leaves cancelled

KOHAT, June 15: The administration has cancelled leaves of all the departmental heads and their staff during August to prepare for floods in the monsoon season.

DCO Shahidullah Khan while chairing a high level meeting regretted that it had become a habit of the nation as a whole to act after the disaster instead of taking prior preventive decisions, an official statement said.The DCO asked the participants to carry out deep cleansing of the all the sewer pipes, keep standby electric transformers, submit daily flood situation and remove encroachments. He said that a control room was being established at the DCO office for monitoring the whole situation. —Correspondent

HU’s first PhD

MANSEHRA, June 15: The Hazara University has awarded PhD degree to Sahib Gul Afridi in the field of tea research.

Mr Afridi presented his thesis on “Phytochemical elaboration of tea genotypes grown in Pakistan” and became the first PhD of Hazara University. Mr Afridi has also the distinction of being the second PhD in the field of tea research in the country. Dr Habib Ahmad, chairman of the department of genetics, was the supervisor of Dr Afridi.

Dr Syed Sakhawat Shah, vice chancellor of the university, said on the occasion that it was an historic day in the short history of Hazara University. “The research in the field of tea production will save a large amount of foreign exchange,” Mr Shah remarked. —Correspondent

NAB’s annual report

PESHAWAR, June 15: National Accountability Bureau Director General Mohammad Musaddiq Abbasi issued the yearly appraisal of his bureau here on Wednesday.

During the fiscal year 2010-2011, NAB(KPK) was provided a total budget of Rs77.47m which was utilised to achieve operational goals and fulfilling the administrative requirements including pays of employees.

During the year, NAB(KPK) received 1,782 complaints out of which 224 were subjected to verification and 82 inquiries and 16 investigations were allowed by the executive board. Sixteen references were completed with a total value of Rs504.319m. In 14 different cases, Rs112.496m were recovered through voluntary return and plea bargain under section 25 of NAO and share of KP government was returned along with 27 civilians who had lost their hard earned money to cheaters. —Bureau Report

Forest fire

TIMERGARA, June 15: Fire broke out in the forest of Kohiray Malakand, some 8km west of Timergara on Wednesday, residents told Dawn.

They said that the fire was spreading fast in the jungle and had engulfed a big area of the forest. The locals had been trying on their own to put out the fire but to no avail. Cause of the fire was not yet known.

An official of the Balambat police station told Dawn that the fire had been overcome and it had not caused a big loss. He said that the station house officer along with other officials immediately visited the forest and controlled the flames. However, people contradicted the police claim and said that the fire was still spreading. —Correspondent