NEWS IN BRIEF

Published July 21, 2011

Court officials sacked

PESHAWAR, July 20: In the drive to weed out corruption among the subordinate judiciary officials, the Peshawar district and sessions judge, Ziauddin Khattak, on Wednesday dismissed two officials and sent five others on forced retirement.

The decision was taken on the recommendations of the District Anti-Corruption Committee.

According to a press release, the officials sent on forced retirement included: stenographer Mahbub Ali, reader Fazal Rabi and three bailiffs Manzoor Khan, Akser Khan and Noor Rehman. Those whose services were terminated included junior clerk Zahoorullah and a reader Mohammad Ayaz.

The anti-corruption drive was started in the light of the directives issued by Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan. —Bureau Report

Increase in fee

PESHAWAR, July 20: The students of Engineering University Peshawar have expressed grave concern over the recent increase in the annual fee and asked the university administration to withdraw the decision.

The students of various departments led by Malik Amjad Khan and Fahim Khattak while talking to journalists at Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday said that till now the annual fee was Rs17,400 but the administration increased it all of a sudden to Rs26,700.

They said that the increase had caused serious unrest among the students as they were unable to afford it in the prevailing situation, adding that the prices of all daily use commodities had been increased to the extent that their families could not meet the expenses. —Bureau Report

Two killed in Chitral

CHITRAL, July 20: Two persons were killed in two separate incidents in the jurisdiction of Drosh police station here on Wednesday.

An official of Drosh police station told Dawn that in the first incident, an Afghan refugee, Rahim Khan, was shod dead by unknown persons while offering Isha prayers in the mosque of Naghar village.

In the second incident, a man was found dead in Baradam village near Lowari Top. He had been apparently beaten to death by unknown persons. The police have registered separate cases and are investigating. —Correspondent

Transformers installed

MARDAN, July 20: Three new electricity transformers have been installed in NA-11 constituency on the demand of residents of the area.

The residents and traders of the area had met PPP MNA Haji Khanzada Khan some days back and asked him to install three new transformers in addition to the existing one so that the people could get relief from the frequent power breakdowns.

The PPP MNA said that he had fulfilled his promise he made with the area people.

He said that the PPP government was committed to provide relief and redress their problems as it was a party of the poor. —Correspondent

Wapda to set up varsity

SWABI, July 20: The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) plans to establish a world-class engineering university in Faisalabad or southern Punjab keeping in view the increasing requirement and emerging new challenges confronting the country.

This was stated by Tahir Basharat Cheema, general manager Wapda, and Naveedul Haq, director training, when they visited the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology here on Wednesday.

They held detailed meeting with Jehangir Bashar, rector of the institute, Prof Dr Fazal Ahmad Khalid, pro-rector (academic), Ahmad Shamsul Huda, pro-rector (admin and finance), and deans of the faculties. They discussed various aspects of the university, aiming to impart quality engineering education to the students.

The main objective of their visit was to discuss various available options and all aspects of the establishment a centre of excellence while benefiting from the experience of the GIK Institute. —Correspondent

Mardan district bar

BUNER, July 20: The chairman district development advisory committee (DDAC), MPA Said Rahim Khan, laid the foundation stone of district bar building at court’s premises in Daggar here on Wednesday.

In this connection, a function was held at the district bar room which was attended by judges, lawyers and heads of line departments.

The MPA in his brief speech assured the lawyers community of more funds adding that initially Rs3.6 million had been released for starting the work.

The president and general secretary of the bar, Advocate Shah Baroos Khan and Advocate Said Jamil Shah, extended their thanks on behalf of their colleagues for the initiative and hoped that the building would be completed within the stipulated time. —Correspondent

Goats buried alive

LAKKI MARWAT, July 20: Hundreds of goats were buried alive in a landslide in Ghundi Husankhel area of Frontier Region Lakki.

According to reports reaching here from the tribal region on Wednesday, the goats were grazing in the mountainous area when suddenly a mound slipped and fell upon them. Resultantly, over 700 goats reportedly died, causing a huge financial loss to the herdsmen.

A tribal chief, Malik Zaitullah Bettanni, told Dawn that the death of goats had inflicted great financial loss on the poor tribesmen, requesting the political administration and higher government quarters to compensate the affected herdsmen.

Meanwhile, over two dozen tribesmen held a demonstration in the district headquarters complex Tajazai on Wednesday to demand the transfer of a political clerk. —Correspondent

University museum

MARDAN, July 20: Vice-chancellor of Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan Prof Dr Ihsan Ali inaugurated the University Museum building in the main campus here on Wednesday.

An inaugural ceremony was held in which a large number of political, educational and civil society members participated.

After inauguration, the participants went through the museum and showed interest in the relics and antiquities displayed at the facility.

The curator of the museum told this scribe that most of the historical and archaeological things at the museum were donated by some locals of the area.

In his inaugural speech, Dr Ihsan Ali said that the museum was established to protect and promote Pakhtun culture and traditions. —Correspondent

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