NEWS IN BRIEF

Published June 30, 2011

Man shot dead

LAKKI MARWAT, June 29: A man was killed and his companion sustained bullet wounds in a firing incident near Manjiwala Chowk here on Wednesday.

Reports say that Jehanzeb and Tahseenullah were taking tea at a hotel situated on the Indus Highway when armed men believed to be their rivals came there and sprayed them with bullets. As a result, Jehanzeb died on the spot while Tahseenullah was seriously injured.

Meanwhile, police claimed to have arrested nine outlaws and seized bombs and weapons from them during a search operation launched in different parts of the district.

“The operation was launched on information that proclaimed offenders and anti-social elements were present in the district with the intention of carrying out criminal activities,” said an official on Wednesday. — Correspondent

Power supply to Gulberg

PESHAWAR, June 29: Owing to a serious technical fault in the power transformer of Gulberg at Ezat Khan Chowk, the power supply has been suspended in the area for the past four days.

A resident, Shafiq, told Dawn that the transformer was repaired by Pesco staff on Saturday but it again developed some fault early on Wednesday morning. He said that the people were facing serious problem in the hot weather. The other serious matter, he said, was non-availability of water in the locality and the residents were compelled to fetch water from far-off.

“Each of the consumers had contributed Rs300 for repair of the transformer as the Pesco officials were not ready to repair it officially,” he complained. — Bureau Report

PML-N allegations rejected

PESHAWAR, June 29: Pakistan People’s Party Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president Syed Zahir Shah has rejected the allegations leveled by Pakistan Muslim League-N about rigging in the elections for legislative assembly of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday, the PPP leader said that his party had its vote bank in Kashmir and won the elections on every seat with leads of thousands of votes and did not need any kind of unfair means. “We doubt that PML-N has used malpractices in the elections, particularly on the seats falling in the Punjab province,” he said and added that the postponement of elections on the LA-41 Peshawar was illogical as there was no issue of law and order here. — Bureau Report

PTI protest demos today

PESHAWAR, June 29: The Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf has announced to hold protest demonstrations against loadshedding in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday.

PTI provincial president Asad Qaiser in a statement issued here on Wednesday asked his party workers to ensure maximum participation in the protest demonstrations to be held at district and tehsil levels. He said that low voltage and frequent outages had made lives of the people miserable and they had the only option to come on streets. He warned that if the government did not stop teasing the power consumers, they would be forced to announce a series of protest demonstrations. — Bureau Report

Focus on skill development

LAKKI MARWAT, June 29: ANP lawmaker Ms Yasmeen Zia has said that the provincial government is focusing on skill development to help the youths overcome the menace of unemployment.

She was speaking at a function at the District Headquarters Complex Tajazai here on Wednesday. The district Zakat and Usher department in collaboration with the district administration had organised the function to distribute computer course completion certificates and Zakat scholarship cheques among the women. Ms Zia said that the educated and skilled womenfolk could transform the backwardness into development. She said that the government had allocated one billion rupees for the uplift of five districts of the province, including Lakki Marwat. — Correspondent

Research proposals approved

PESHAWAR, June 29: A meeting of the Advanced Study and Research Board was held at the University of Peshawar on Wednesday with Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Azmat Hayat Khan in the chair.

Out of the total 27 research proposals presented for approval by the PhD scholars, 21 were approved while six cases were rejected. Besides, three PhD scholars were given extension for completion of their research topic.

Similarly, six MPhil research scholars were also given a go-ahead to pursue their research after formal approval of their topics while one case was rejected. — APP

‘Green Swat’ project

PESHAWAR, June 29: The Khyber Pakthunkhwa government has decided to launch ‘Green Swat’ project with the assistance of Rotary Club.

Environmental clubs in schools, fish farms in water streams and wildlife parks will also be set up in Swat to provide recreational facilities to the militancy-affected Swatis. This was decided at a meeting here the other day with the provincial environment minister in the chair.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister said that saplings of different species would be sown in arid and semi arid areas of the valley during monsoon tree plantation campaign. The Rotary Club also announced on the occasion to make the provincial minister for forest its member. — APP

Teachers visit UET

PESHAWAR, June 29: A delegation of 32 female lecturers from various colleges of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who are currently undergoing a professional development course at the Frontier Education Foundation Academy, visited the University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar on Tuesday.

The Vice-Chancellor, UET, Eng Imtiaz Hussain Gilani welcomed the delegation and briefed them about the varsity, ongoing activities and projects. He said the relationship between UET and Frontier Education Foundation was mutually beneficial. He stressed the need for funding for education by both the public and private sectors. He termed the allocation of just 4 per cent of GDP for education as meager. The delegation visited various departments.—Bureau Report

Provincial autonomy

PESHAWAR, June 29: The Awami National Party has announced month-long festivities to celebrate the provincial autonomy it got through the approval of 18th Constitutional Amendment.

The party’s acting central president Senator Haji Mohammad Adeel, in a statement here on Tuesday, said the celebrations would start from July 1st and would continue the whole month in parts of all the four provinces.

He said the government had fulfilled its constitutional obligation by abolishing the concurrent list and shifting the relevant ministries to the provinces, adding, the provincial autonomy was result of the 64 years long struggle of the party.—Bureau Report

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